Slug (production)

In newspaper editing, a slug is a short name given to an article that is in production. The story is labeled with its slug as it makes its way from the reporter through the editorial process. Sometimes a slug contains code information that tells editors specific information about the story — for example, the letters "AM" at the beginning of a slug on a wire story tell editors that the story is meant for morning papers, while the letters "CX" indicate that the story is a correction to an earlier story.

In the production process of print advertisements, a slug or slug line, refers to the "name" of a particular advertisement. Advertisements usually have several markers, ad numbers or job numbers and slug lines. Usually the slug references the offer or headline and is used to differentiate between different ad runs.