Question

That's what I thought. Thanks.

 

There's a free daily in the city where I used to live that puts datelines from the area of the city the story is about. Dateline: CITY HALL; dateline: PICO BOULEVARD; dateline: DOWNTOWN.
pretty funny.

 

My old paper would sometimes put the county. I thought that was pretty dumb.

 

Depends, was it within the city or in unincorporated county land?

Also, a desker here saw something on the wire the other day with the byline: ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE.

 

It was in one of the small towns. Apparently, the readers wouldn't know where the small town was, so it would be better to list the county.

I understand if it was in unincorporated county areas.

 

I always liked the datelines from World War II: A BATTLEFIELD IN GERMANY--, SOMEWHERE IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC, etc.

 

I don't actually think that's wrong. If you are not implying that you were there, i.e. the byline says PODUNK TIMES PRESS SERVICES, then you aren't misleading the reader, just telling them where the game was.

 

mine too

 

we go with zip codes

 

We put datelines on roundups, I think it is ridiculous

 

While we're on the topic, I have a few dateline questions that have always puzzled me....

1. You do a feature with sources interviewed in several different places. Which is the dateline? None at all?

2. You do an advance for a road game. When the story runs, you will be in that city, but the information was not collected there. Does it make a difference if the story is specific to that city? (A story about a team's first visit to Fenway, for example.) What if you do the story as an advance for the road trip, but then you don't make the trip? I assume no dateline at all then, rather than the home dateline.

3. This one happens in spring training a lot. I interview Joe Shmo at the team's home camp in City A for a live feature. That day the team is playing in City B, where I go to do a notebook on the game. Joe Shmo doesn't make the trip. (This frequently happens in Arizona, where the cities are close together.) Does it confuse readers if I have one story on the team with City A in the dateline and another story right next to it with City B?

 

1. I pick where I spent the most time. If I spent the most time talking to Brian Sabean just outside Scottsdale, then talked to Barry Zito and Felipe Alou and others in the surrounding areas (hotels, etc.), I'll slap a SCOTTSDALE - on there.

2. If I'm doing an advance for a road game but am not yet in that city, I just leave the dateline off. I know a guy who's actually submitted stories from the Cleveland airport en route from New York to St. Louis and slapped CLEVELAND - on it. That's useless. If you're not there and you got the information at home (as in No. 1), stick to nothing.

3. No. Our writers at the Super Bowl had multiple stories with GLENDALE - and PHOENIX - right next to each other. If that's where it is, that's where it is.