What Is a Dateline?
A dateline is the line at the start of a news story or press release that states where, and in releases also when, the story originates.
Merriam-Webster defines a dateline as “a line in a written document or a printed publication giving the date and place of composition or issue,” with a first known use in that sense of 1888 (Merriam-Webster). In journalism the place matters most. The Associated Press puts it plainly: “A dateline tells the reader where we obtained the basic information for a story” (AP Statement of News Values and Principles).
The word has a second, unrelated meaning: the International Date Line. Merriam-Webster lists that as sense 2. This guide covers only the journalism sense.
Datelines at a Glance
| Question | Answer | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A line giving the date and place of composition or issue | Merriam-Webster |
| What it tells a news reader | Where the basic information was obtained | AP |
| Where it sits | At the start of the first paragraph, before the lede | Newswire.com |
| Press release format | City in capitals, state or country where needed, date, then the wire's name, for example “NEW YORK, April 12, 2022 (Newswire.com)” | Newswire.com, citing AP style |
| Cities that stand alone | Major cities such as NEW YORK and WASHINGTON, per the AP Stylebook list | Newswire.com |
| Ethics rule | AP bylines on datelined text only if the journalist was in that place | AP |
| Online equivalent of the date | A visible, labelled date plus structured data | Google Search Central |
How a Dateline Is Formatted
Most English-language news and press releases follow AP style, which sets the city in capital letters followed, in most cases, by the state, county or territory. Newswire.com, summarizing AP style, says the dateline should include “a city name, entirely in capital letters,” and that major cities stand alone: New York City becomes NEW YORK and Washington, D.C., becomes WASHINGTON (Newswire.com). The full list of stand-alone cities, and the state abbreviations to use, are in the AP Stylebook's datelines entry, which requires a subscription; we could not read it, so we do not reproduce the list here.
A press release dateline usually has three or four parts:
- City, in capitals: the place the news comes from, often the company's headquarters or the event location.
- State, province or country, unless the city stands alone under the style the outlet follows.
- Date, the release date: month, day and year.
- Distributor, added by the wire in brackets, for example “(Newswire.com)”.
Not every organization uses AP capitals. The Canadian Space Agency's media advisory of July 17, 2026, opens with “Longueuil, Quebec, July 17, 2026,” in mixed case with the province spelled out (Canadian Space Agency). Government and non-US releases often follow their own style guides. The point is consistency within a document and with the outlet you send to.
The Rules Behind a News Dateline
For news organizations the dateline is a claim about reporting, which is why the AP's standards treat it as an ethics matter. Its statement says that on short, un-bylined stories such as routine speeches, game stories and announcements, the dateline “generally should reflect where the story took place,” but that for longer, analytical or hard-to-access stories it should be where the staffer covering the story is located. Material gathered elsewhere, such as a comment from an official in Washington on a disaster in another place, should be noted in the story (AP).
Classification from the AP's wording (“must”, “should”, “generally should”), not a measurement
Source: The Associated Press Statement of News Values and Principles, section “Bylines and Datelines” (PDF, February 2026).
Bar lengths rank the strength of the AP's wording: “must” or “only if” = 3, “should” = 2, “generally should” = 1. They are ordinal categories, not measured quantities.
The AP is strictest with visual and audio material. Its statement says the dateline for video, photos or audio “must be the location where the events depicted actually occurred,” that a voice report's dateline must be where the reporter is speaking or there should be none, and that for text stories with datelines, “bylines may be used only if the journalist was in the datelined location.” Datelines get corrected like any other fact: one of Merriam-Webster's usage examples is an ABC News correction noting that the city in a dateline was Mombasa, not Nairobi (Merriam-Webster). For how outlets handle such fixes, see how publications handle corrections.
Datelines in Press Releases
In a press release, the dateline tells editors where the news originates and when it was issued. Newswire.com describes it as “located at the beginning of a press release” (Newswire.com). Our guide to how to write a press release records that GlobeNewswire lists a dateline among the elements a release should typically include.
Three practical choices come up:
- Which city. The headquarters city is the default. For a regional announcement, such as a new plant or an event, the local city can be more useful to local reporters. The city should be true: a release datelined in a city where nothing happened misleads the same way a false news dateline would.
- Which date. Use the date the release is issued. For an embargoed announcement, a common practice is to date the release for the day the embargo lifts and state the embargo time clearly at the top; check the wire's own embargo rules. See do press embargoes still hold?
- Which style. Wires add their own tag. Follow the wire's format and AP style unless your organization has a house style.
A media advisory often carries a dateline too, as the Canadian Space Agency example shows, even though its main job is announcing an event's time and place. Wire choice and how each wire formats releases is covered in PR Newswire vs Business Wire.
Datelines Online: Visible Dates and Structured Data
On the web, a page's date is read by people and by search engines, and the two signals should agree. Google says it estimates a byline date from several factors and recommends that publishers “add a user-visible date to the page and feature it prominently,” labelled “with text like ‘Publish’ or ‘Last updated’,” and that structured data specify “the datePublished and/or dateModified fields” (Google Search Central). Google also notes that “the date is required; the time is not.”
For a company newsroom, keep the release dateline, the visible publication date and the Article markup consistent. Do not change the date on an old release to make it look recent. Our guides to creating an online newsroom and adding Article structured data cover the markup.
Common Dateline Mistakes
These are common errors worth checking for. The list is our own, checked against the sources above.
- Missing dateline. The first paragraph starts without a place, so editors cannot tell where the news comes from.
- Wrong or inconsistent date. The dateline, the embargo line and the web page show different dates.
- A city where nothing happened. Picking a prestigious city instead of the true origin.
- Unneeded state names. Adding a state after a city that stands alone under AP style, or omitting it where needed.
- Mixed styles. Capitals in one release and mixed case in the next from the same company.
- Treating it as the headline. The dateline gives place and date; the news itself belongs in the headline and the lede.
Dateline vs Related Terms
| Term | What it is | Relationship to the dateline |
|---|---|---|
| Byline | The name of the writer | AP: “A byline tells the reader who wrote the story”; the dateline says where. See author bylines |
| Lede | The opening sentence of the story | Follows the dateline in the same paragraph |
| Embargo line | A note on when the news may be published | Appears above the release; keep its date consistent with the dateline |
| Publication date | The date a web page shows as published | Google recommends a visible, labelled date and matching structured data |
| International Date Line | The line on the globe where the calendar date changes | Merriam-Webster's sense 2 of dateline; unrelated to journalism |
Common Misconceptions About Datelines
| Myth | What the sources say | Source |
|---|---|---|
| A dateline is only about the date | The AP defines it by place: where the basic information was obtained | AP |
| Any convenient city will do | The AP ties datelines to where events occurred or where the staffer is | AP |
| Every dateline needs a state | Major cities such as NEW YORK and WASHINGTON stand alone in AP style | Newswire.com |
| Everyone uses all capitals | The Canadian Space Agency used mixed case: “Longueuil, Quebec, July 17, 2026” | Canadian Space Agency |
| Changing the date makes content look fresh to Google | Google estimates dates from several factors and asks for accurate published and modified dates |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a dateline in a news story?
It is the line at the start of the story that says where it originates. The AP says a dateline tells the reader where the basic information for a story was obtained.
What does a press release dateline look like?
Typically the city in capitals, the state or country where needed, the date and the wire name, for example NEW YORK, April 12, 2022 (Newswire.com), followed directly by the first sentence.
Which city should a press release dateline use?
Usually the city where the news originates, often the headquarters. For a local event or facility, the local city can be more useful to reporters. It should be a true origin.
Do all cities need a state in the dateline?
No. Under AP style, major cities such as New York and Washington stand alone. The full list is in the AP Stylebook datelines entry, which requires a subscription.
Can a reporter use a dateline for a place they did not visit?
Under the AP's standards, bylines on datelined text stories may be used only if the journalist was in that location, and video, photo or audio datelines must be where events occurred.
Does Google read datelines?
Google estimates a page's date from several factors and recommends a visible, labelled date plus datePublished and dateModified in structured data. Keep the dateline and those dates consistent.
Sources and Methodology
This explainer is built from Merriam-Webster's entry for dateline, the Associated Press Statement of News Values and Principles (PDF, read in full), Google Search Central's guidance on byline dates, Newswire.com's AP-style dateline explainer and a Canadian Space Agency media advisory used as a real example, all read on October 10, 2026. We could not read the AP Stylebook's datelines entry, which is behind a subscription, so we do not list stand-alone cities or abbreviations beyond the examples quoted. The reference to GlobeNewswire comes from our own fact-checked press release guide. The ranking in the chart, the list of common mistakes and the release advice are our synthesis. We did not survey datelines across wires.
- reference dateline, Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Read October 10, 2026.
- official The Associated Press Statement of News Values and Principles, The Associated Press, PDF dated February 2026 by its upload path. The newsroom's own standards document. Read October 10, 2026.
- official Influence your byline dates in Google Search, Google Search Central, last updated December 10, 2025. Read October 10, 2026.
- vendor Newswire Explains How to Format a Press Release Dateline Using AP Style, Newswire.com, release dated April 12, 2022. Read October 10, 2026.
- official Launch of Crew-13: only opportunity for media accreditation, Canadian Space Agency media advisory, July 17, 2026. Read October 10, 2026.
- own data Media Morpheus Research, How to Write a Press Release: Structure, Wire Rules and a Fill-In Template (GlobeNewswire FAQ read October 8, 2026).