You'll also notice that some papers choose not to dateline stories that occur in their home city, instead opting to dateline only stories from outlying cities. Papers will also usually have a list of cities that are easily recognizable to readers and don't require an accompanying state designation. For example, Los Angeles readers will easily recognize Pasadena or Long Beach, but a story from a town in North California -- Chico, for example -- could require that the dateline include a proper state abbreviation:
- CHICO, Calif. -- Police were called to the scene of a double homicide...
The Associated Press keeps a list of dateline cities in each year's AP Stylebook, which are widely recognized cities that don't require a state designation. The dateline cities in the United States are: ATLANTA, BALTIMORE, BOSTON, CHICAGO, CINCINNATI, CLEVELAND, DALLAS, DENVER, DETROIT, HONOLULU, HOUSTON, INDIANAPOLIS, LAS VEGAS, LOS ANGELES, MIAMI, MILWAUKEE, MINNEAPOLIS, NEW ORLEANS, NEW YORK, OKLAHOMA CITY, PHILADELPHIA, PHOENIX, PITTSBURGH, ST. LOUIS, SALT LAKE CITY, SAN ANTONIO, SAN DIEGO, SAN FRANCISCO, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON. Because Washington is a dateline city that stands alone without the "D.C.," writers using AP style often must clarify in text when they're referring to "Washington state."
But how does a writer or editor know if he or she is selecting the right dateline? Sometimes it will be obvious: A writer based at the California Capitol will have all stories datelined SACRAMENTO, adding the "Calif." for readers outside the state.
Some stories are a bit fuzzier. Say that a reporter is covering the story of a lost hiker and the wide-reaching search effort. This could either have a general geographical dateline of YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK or the city in which the search-and-rescue command post is located: FISH CAMP, Calif. Remembering the reach of the Internet and readers who may be unfamiliar with the general location, you'll then note high up in the story that the rescuers are searching far and wide in the vast expanses of Yosemite.
You can also use a region as a dateline. Say that you're scooting between small towns, rural ranches and truck stops in one corner of the state with no specific centralized location for the story's origin. You could go with a dateline like SOUTHWEST UTAH.
However, say that your story is so far-flung that you're compiling bits and pieces from sources and stories here and there -- as a columnist might do -- and there is no central reporting location. It's perfectly acceptable to run the story without a dateline. But notice that when a reporting columnist, such as Thomas Friedman, hits the road and digs up a column in Shanghai, he'll tack a dateline onto the text to indicate to the readers that, indeed, he got out from behind the desk and got his info on scene.
Readers latch onto datelines when looking for stories about regions in which they're particularly interested, so just make sure that your dateline is a) as pinpointing as possible, and b) not false advertising.