Question

1. I would use whatever city makes the most sense. If none of them do, then I would leave it off.

2. My general rule of thumb -- and the rule of thumb of most papers I know -- is that if you're going to be in a city the day the story hits the paper, you are free to use the dateline. So, in this instance, I would use the dateline of where ever the team is playing its road game.

3. Christ, that's a mess. I don't know what I would do there.

 

1. Unless the location is crucial to the story, I wouldn't have a dateline, or I'd specify in the story where the quote was said. For example, you might have the dateline be the major city the team is based in, but have " 'Golf helps me relax,' Player said on the third hole of XXX Golf Club in XXX." A better example might be if you traveled with a source to the city they grew up in. You would want to specify that that quote was said standing field where he learned to play instead of the major-league park.
Most features at my shop don't get datelines because with features datelines don't matter as much as they do for games. When you see "CHICAGO — The Bulls beat the Knicks" You immediately know the game was in Chicago and that the Bulls might have some advantages.

2. For advances I don't like seeing the road city's dateline unless reporting was actually done there. I've read stories with a road city's dateline in the paper or online, then flown with that reporter to said city. That doesn't make sense to me. On the other hand, I will put datelines for follows. I was in that city and am using quotes from post-game interviews, therefore the reporting and facts were in that city and gets the dateline.

3. It might confuse the reader, but if you're in a different city, you're in a different city and thus a different byline. People that know baseball understand that there are multiple parks within a close area.

 

I still don't think there's anything wrong with it. And we don't do it ... but I wouldn't mind if we did.

I'm not interested in some industry-wide "rule" about how datelines are used. I'm interested in what helps the readers. And if the reader can become used to knowing where the event took place by seeing the dateline, then the writer can file the story from the men's room on the third floor of our building, for all I care.

 

I do not see it as ridiculous.

Forget about philosophy and look at it from the point of view of the reader.

Now he/she knows where the game was, right up front. Makes it easier to figure whether the Fighting Wombats had been at home or on the road. Quicker than having it in the story.

 

The dateline is a simple statement that you, as a reporter, were there. You were not at the game listed in the round-up, so it's deceiving the reader.

As for the home/road issue, "Jennie Stephens scored 21 points as East High defeated Central High at home Saturday night." Problem solved.

 

You're not alone in that feeling.

Just remember: They called me crazy when I said we'd be getting our news from our home computers some day.

 

I love boat datelines like, ABOARD THE QUEEN MARY. Has there ever been an ABOARD THE SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA (or other space travel dateline)? That would be very cool.

 

I know it's normal for news people who do phone interviews to fly out and just stay in the city where their contact was to have a valid dateline, at least for the bigger stories. Seems kind of odd, but I guess ...

 

You really think that's problem solved?
For those that don't know where the game was, half of your readers will think "at home" modifies East, the other half will think it modifies Central.

 

At whose home?

In what city?