diff --git a/doc/NEWS.md b/doc/NEWS.md
index 748ab07..cee49f6 100644
--- a/doc/NEWS.md
+++ b/doc/NEWS.md
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
  * cleanup: replaced header.in with one generated by autoheader, moving custom logic to a separate header file "config-aux.h"
  * cleanup: added copyright notice to all source files as per GNU standards
  * cleanup: changed "`--version`" output to conform to GNU standards
+ * cleanup: replaced backticks with `$()` in all shell scripts that did not come from elsewhere
 
 1.7.0 - 17 July 2023
  * dropped: support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and its derivatives has been dropped; removed the RPM spec file, and will no longer build binaries