dateline usage

so, a competitor writes a story off a press conference that was broadcast on radio and the web but wasn't there. still, he has a dateline as if he was there. i was there, he wasn't. should it bother me that he used a dateline when he wasn't there. isn't that misleading the reader? or am i just being petty?

 

Did he put a byline on it?

 

yes... bylined

 

yes, yes and yes.

 

Datelines are supposed to indicated to a reader where the material was gathered. Not where it originated.
Of course, it is misleading.

 

I agree with you hoops that he was wrong... problem is, 99.99999% of readers don't give a crap and/or have little or no idea what datelines represent.

 

Yeah, but there's always that .0000001.

 

thing is, there are people who are reading this who know who i am and immediately know who i'm talking about... there is a pattern of this stuff and it just gets old

 

There is, however, nothing you can do about it so I'd say don't let it get to you.

 

true dat

 

i know of at least one paper in my area that does this as policy

dateline on every staff-generated story, doesn't matter if a reporter was there

revolting