Which do you prefer?

Just a random wondering of mine — you see lots of different titles under bylines these days. They range from "staff writer" to just saying the name of the paper. In some cases, it lists the writer's e-mail address. What's it like in your shop, which do you prefer and why?

I'm partial to it just saying the name of the paper.

 

The paper's name is located at the top of each page already, so why have it below the writer's name?

At my shop we use Staff Writer, which is OK, but I actually prefer having my e-mail address -- if only so I don't have to waste a couple of lines at the end of each article telling reachers how they can contact me.

 

We use staff reporter/editor for our second-line in the news section, and "Paper" Sports, in the sports section. I'm not sure how that exactly started. I can see how Reporter X, "Paper Name" would be useful if you're in a chain or a paper that uses syndication from other sources a lot though, it helps you identify and take credit of your own people.

As for e-mail addresses, I do like them at the footer of stories, though in our instance, I have mine in the page header and I don't see any reason to bombard readers with it.

 

I prefer e-mail address under the byline. Wish we did it that way.

In our shop there is a horizontal rule at the end of the story, then a line of space, and then 3-4 lines of type saying "Joe Blow can be reached at jblow@dailybugle.com."

The whole thing wastes 5 lines of space.

May not sound like much, but it can make the difference in a too-long story being an easy cut and a difficult cut.

 

That was the only thing we did right at my last shop: having the email addy below your byline. At my present job, we repeat our name (as if you don't know what paper you're reading.) :

 

Not only does it waste space, but if you got a couple of stories on a page -- sidebar, notebook, whatever -- then you got "Bubba can be reached at ..." two or three times on the same page. Just seems so unnecessary when you can solve it by putting the email address under my name.

 

We put e-mail addresses in the byline-2 field, then put phone numbers in a tag line at the end.

At my old paper, it was:
"By Lon Dawng,"
"Schmuckystein Reporter,"
"xxxxxx@schmuckstein.com."

If it was a stringer, the third line was "newsroom@schmuckstein.com." The third line was incredibly annoying.

 

Why is the "Joe Blow can be reached at" part necessary? It's the newspaper equivalent of phone recordings that say things like, "You've reached Mike. After the tone, please leave a detailed message, including your name, telephone number, and the reason you're calling, and I will get back to you as soon as possible." People know what to do after the beep, and people know what they can do with an email address. If they see an email address at the bottom of a story, they will understand that they can reach the writer of that story at that email address. Just put "msmith@times.com" and save yourself a line or two...though I don't know how "Joe Blow can be reached at jblow@dailybugle.com" takes 3-4 lines in the first place.

 

Ours look like:

By Cosmo Kramer
ckramer@kramericaindustries.com
(KL5) 555-1298

 

Way we do it is (Name of Paper) Sports Writer (or News, or Lifestyles). We put the e-mail at the end of the story.

 

You mean:

(KL5) 555-FILK

 

;D