Can this be bylined? Or can it NEVER be bylined?

My first paper's ME had news dateline everything as if we were reporting from the scene. I didn't realize it at first, since pretty much everything we did was local or on-site. Then one morning I saw a story from some Eastern European country, a feature on some woman with local ties who was doing something of note out there. The reporter was in town the day he wrote it and the day it ran. I asked him how our town managed to get non-stop flights to this town thousands of miles away, and how he got the approval to make this really trip. That's when I find out about the policy. At the time I was horrified (oh, you righteous scamp, Mystery Meat 2002). But I'm in the "nobody cares as long as you're consistent" camp now.

 

With all due respect - bullshit.

Double bullshit.

I worked in that business for 20 years and I can't remember one news release or press release I've ever read from a team - and especially a college team - that wasn't loaded with over the top, trite, "hooray for the home team" versions of the truth and I can't remember one that didn't have to be rewritten completely or at least seriously reworked.

"Despite more heart and effort than ever showed by any team, home town team lost to rival team, 150-4, tonight. The loss means home town team is now 1-54 on the season, but that one win is far more than predicted and that shows home town team's coach has them on the right track and next year, home town team has a good recruiting class coming in. The four points were a season-high for home town team and all came courtesy of senior center Joe Blow, who had a career-high. He is playing for home town team because home town team has had 5 players go down to injuries which cost them a total of ten games, a reason for home town team's struggles. ...."

And as for your nonsense about compiling bios on golfers at a regional you were hosting - congratulations, you did your fucking job.

 

Sorry, I disagree. Datelines say where you were when you wrote the story. If your style is to dateline every story, it's OK to do something like:

PODUNKVILLE _ Fred Johnson scored 32 points and Ed Henry grabbed 12 rebounds as Local College beat State University 76-72 Wednesday night in Capital City.

 

You mean have a dateline that is different than the actual city the event took place in?

Now that is silly.

 

Agree on event coverage. Nobody gives a flying ass where you filed the story, it's where the story happened that matters. It's about the reporting, not the writing.

As for phoner/feature stuff, that's a little different. If the bulk of the reporting was done in a specific town, then it makes sense to use a dateline from that town. But it's far from essential. If you're doing reporting mostly over the phone or splitting it evenly among multiple localities, you shouldn't bother with a dateline, because that implies the story focuses on that town.

 

I don't see how you can criticize beanpole's work as an SID when you've never read it. We've all had to deal with homer SIDs. I know I've gotten news releases that buried a last-second shot winning the game in overtime because it was the home team that lost. That said, I've also dealt with SIDs who made sure their releases followed AP style and gave me 2-3 grafs at the top that I could seamlessly add to my roundups.

Guess what? Their stuff made it in the paper more often, because it was of usable quality. They knew it, of course, but I also made sure they knew that I appreciated their efforts.

So the local paper gave him a byline? Fine. Many smaller papers have arrangements with SIDs who file for them and get paid for it. You claim he's just doing his job. Fine. Just realize that some do it much better than others.

 

You may have been been getting releases from SIDs for 20 years that were crap, but mine weren't. I worked as a reporter -- both news and sports -- before I got into SIDing, and that's how I wrote my game stories: as a reporter would. I read the game stories that are now on the websites of the two schools were I used to work, and they're written by homers (at least one is; the other just isn't written very well at all).

And I know I was doing my job with the golf stuff. I was just saying that the paper acknowledged that I had done a lot of the work -- actually more than the beat writer -- on that feature, and gave me credit for it. I didn't ask for the byline; I didn't expect the byline. I never asked for or expected bylines when I sent out releases, and I certainly didn't have an arrangement to get paid for what I sent in. It was part of my job, and I took pride in my job and in my work. The only time the paper paid me is when I freelanced high school football games...and I got a byline there!

I teach journalism now, and I stress to my students that if they write a press release that's in proper AP style, there's a pretty good chance it's going to run. Sometimes, if a reporter/editor has some space to fill, it's going to get filled by what is handy and what can be plugged in with little or no editing.

Lone Star -- 'preciate it.

 

I've seen both - some with actual ledes and quotes that read just like a gamer and some that are just awful.

Then again, I've seen plenty of well-written gamers and plenty that make me gag.

 

I had a former SE who used to put his name on every release that he could get his hands on, while running said release in its entirety, editing only for AP style. He then would brag to anyone who would listen about how many bylines he had.

We hated him.

 

I've heard of at least two reporters getting fired for similar misdeeds.

 

This has devolved nicely. You don't put a dateline if you weren't there. Gives a false presumption to the reader -- even if only a small percentage can appreciate what a dateline means. You can write "in the ACC Tournament in Atlanta" if you want to make it clear where it happened.

 

Do the readers really think that a reporter was there if a story has a dateline, or does it show them where the event took place?
I cover a DI men's basketball team in a major conference, but we rarely travel unless it's an easy drive.
Instead, I write the away gamers from the radio/TV. I don't use a byline but I do use a dateline. It's where the game was played.