� Omitting Words, NPR Portrays a Conservative Court Watcher As a Clarence Thomas Hater - Big Journalism

Omitting Words, NPR Portrays a Conservative Court Watcher As a Clarence Thomas Hater - Big Journalism:

Creative editing of direct quotations often lands journalists in trouble – for good reason.

The ellipsis, usually shown in print as a series of three dots ( … ) between words, is an important tool for the journalist. It signifies that words have been omitted. Without ellipses, extended quotations would drag on, weighted down with information irrelevant to the story at hand. The ellipsis allows the writer to leave in the important words and banish the unimportant ones."