ACCURACYIf a writer has to pick one principle that should neverbe violated, this should be the one. To fall down in thisarea is to discredit your entire writing effort. As a JO,you will be working with facts. These facts will involvepersons, places and things. They will involve names,ages, titles, rank or ratings, addresses and descriptions.You will work with facts that are both familiar andunfamiliar to you.You cannot afford to be casual in your approach to facts. Your readers will often judge the Navy on what you say and how you say it. An easy way to lose the public’s respect and cofidence is by being careless in your handling of facts. When you send a story to a newspaper, the editor depends on you for accuracy in every fact. The Navy news release heading that appears on every story you distribute means the information it contains is reliable and has been approved officially by the Navy. A mistake in a news story implies that the Navy is careless and undependable. Datelines tell when and where the story is written and should appear on all stories written for release. In the text of the story, when and where may refer to the dateline. Attribution relates to accuracy. It means that you name the person who makes any statement that may be challenged. Good quotations liven a story, give it color and aid in development of coherence. Attribution also ensures that the reader does not get the impression the statement is the writer’s personal opinion. However, attribution should never be used in a story merely to flatter a person by publicizing his or her name. BREVITY The question is often asked, “Should I be brief in my writing or complete?” By all means, be brief, but not at the expense of completeness. The key is to boil down your writing and eliminate garbage. A compact piece of writing is frequently much stronger than a lengthy story. An example is Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. This speech has outlived a flock of long harangues by later statesmen. One of the reasons for its survival is its brevity. CLARITY Nothing is more discouraging than reading an article and then realizing that you do not know what you read. A similar frustration arises when you are trying to follow directions on assembling a toy, particularly when the instructions read, “...even a 5-year-old can assemble this toy,” and you cannot do it, because the directions read as if they were written in a foreign language. Assume that if there is any chance of misunderstanding, readers will misunderstand. Reread what you have written looking for points that could lead to readers’ misunderstanding