How to Use AP Style Datelines in Your Writing
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
How to Use AP Style Datelines in Your Writing
You may have heard about writing in AP style or even been directed to do so by a teacher or editor. In fact, a commonly searched grammar question on the web concerns how to use Associated Press–style datelines in writing.
In today’s post we’ll delve into how to do that as well as why you might want to observe AP style.
What Does AP Style Mean?
Before we get started, let’s first clarify what Associated Press (AP) style means.
AP refers to The Associated Press, which is a well-known American nonprofit news agency. In addition to sharing daily international news, the organization produces a style guide, The Associated Press (AP) Stylebook, that is followed by journalists and press officers around the world.
First published in 1953, the style guide is widely considered to be an authority on matters of grammar, punctuation, and reporting principles in American journalism. For this reason, many professional writers and editors are at least familiar with AP style.
The guide’s topics and entries aim to help writers compose content that is more clear, consistent, and readable. By referring to it, writers increase the likelihood of keeping their audiences more focused on content and less distracted by discrepancies and wavering style.
Why Would You Want to Write in AP Style?
There are different reasons you might follow The AP Stylebook. Certainly, many writers do so because their school or employer abides by it.
Another incentive to apply AP style is to make your content more likely to be picked up by others. For example, because AP style is so pervasive in journalism, a piece of writing that adheres to it can remove extra work from a newsroom or magazine editor’s day by not requiring changes from a different format.
AP-Style Datelines: What They Are and How to Use Them
Some news stories and press releases include what is referred to as a dateline, which is leading text that begins content by identifying the place and time of the article or press release.
According to AP, the dateline should contain a city name in all capital letters, followed in most cases by the name of the state, country, or territory where the city is located. An em dash with surrounding spaces is included between the dateline and the first line of article content.
Example
PROVO, Utah, January 2023 — Article content here.
Certain well-known cities can stand alone without their state name.
Examples
NEW YORK, November 2022 — Article content here.
LONDON, May 2023 — Article content here.
BEIJING, June 2024 — Article content here.
Stories from all other U.S. cities should have both the city and state name in the dateline, including KANSAS CITY, Mo., and KANSAS CITY, Kan. The style guide specifies abbreviations for the states except for Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah, which should be spelled out.
Examples
KANSAS CITY, Mo., November 2022 — Article content here.
COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 2023 — Article content here.
SACRAMENTO, Calif., June 2024 — Article content here.
If the writer wishes to include a specific date, all months except for March through July would be abbreviated:
KANSAS CITY, Mo., Nov. 18, 2022 — Article content here.
COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 3, 2023 — Article content here.
SACRAMENTO, Calif., June 6, 2024 — Article content here.
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I do not live in a city designated by the state, but in a smaller municipality. My publisher tells me my US Post Office address cannot be used in an AP-style dateline. I contend that a proper interpretation of the CITY-State rule is how the Post Office designates an address as opposed to the type of the municipality. Otherwise, it would absurdly maintain that news can originate only within the political boundaries of the 56 cities in my state, and not in any of the other 2,502 other municipalities. What do you say?
We see no reason why the city and state used in an official USPS address could not be used in an AP style dateline, other than that your publisher may have a strategic purpose for doing so.
Among other things about datelines, AP states “a dateline should tell the reader that the AP obtained the basic information for the story in the datelined place. Do not, for example, use a Washington dateline on a story written primarily from information that a newspaper reported under a Washington dateline. Use the home city of the newspaper instead. This rule does not preclude the use of a story with a dateline different from the home city of a newspaper if it is from the general area served by the newspaper….When a story has been assembled from sources in widely separated areas, or when a reporter gathered the material remotely, it is acceptable to use no dateline. Datelines should convey the spirit of the reporting; they are not restricted to cities and towns. Census-designated places, townships, parks, counties, or datelines such as ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE or ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER may be used if appropriate. But do not designate neighborhoods or other places within a better-known jurisdiction as the dateline. For instance, NEW YORK should be the dateline, not BROOKLYN or CENTRAL PARK.” [Note this last guideline might suggest your publisher’s stance.]
Where does the AP abbreviation get placed? Do you write Chicago, date, AP or Chicago, AP, date?
Chicago (AP) June 5
Chicago June 5 (AP)
Writing “AP” in the dateline is not necessary. AP is the style used, not the source of the dateline.
Traditionally, datelines have been to show where the story originated, i.e., where our main office is, or where the event that we are holding will take place. However, we are now all working remotely and have no “home base” or “main office”. What do I use for a dateline then? The town where I am writing from? Or do I just use the state? Look forward to your answer.
The Associated Press, a pre-eminent resource on this subject, advises as follows:
A dateline should tell the reader that the [news source] obtained the basic information for the story in the datelined place. Do not, for example, use a Washington dateline on a story written primarily from information that a newspaper reported under a Washington dateline. Use the home city of the newspaper instead. This rule does not preclude the use of a story with a dateline different from the home city of a newspaper if it is from the general area served by the newspaper. … Datelines should convey the spirit of the reporting; they are not restricted to cities and towns. Census-designated places, townships, parks, counties, or datelines such as ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE or ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER may be used if appropriate. But do not designate neighborhoods or other places within a better-known jurisdiction as the dateline. For instance, NEW YORK should be the dateline, not BROOKLYN or CENTRAL PARK. … For bylined stories, a reporter must be reporting from the dateline on the story. When there are multiple bylines, at least one reporter must have been at the scene, and a note at the end of the story should explain the locations of all bylined reporters. If the story has no dateline, no note is needed at the end of the story explaining the reporters’ locations.