Grammar Differences

There are many differences between AP style and MLA style, but that doesn’t mean that errors are any less prevalent.
“In journalism the writing is more fact based,” said newspaper editor X. “You have to spit out the facts.”
X went on to say the biggest difference is in a news article quotes stand alone, where as in a regular MLA paper the quotes are integrated into the paragraphs.
According to X another difference that beginning reporters are unaware of is the use of listing commas. When listing in MLA it’s acceptable to put a comma before the “and”, however that comma is omitted in AP format.
The most common errors X sees in AP format are the type of errors that can be made in any writing format. “Their, there and they’re,” said X. “That really pisses me off.”
Along the same lines, X said that words with similar sounds are often confused by his reporters, and “that pisses me off to no end,” said X.
Those errors may make X unhappy, but the mistake that makes X adamant enough to get out a piece of paper and scribble down the error with vigor is apostrophes.
On the paper X wrote the same word twice with the apostrophe in different places. The paper read, “Beaver’s Beavers’,” and X said if his reporters could consistently use apostrophes correctly he would be a happy man.
So while there are differences, most often the errors made by reporters are the same errors made in other fields.