To narc? Or not to narc?

Media has got to be the most self loathing profession out there.

You guys think $21,000 a year for a college graduate is a great job, and will move to Paris -- Texas -- to take it.

And, you make every excuse in the book to explain away ethical lapses.

 

Not really. Datelines serve a purpose of informing the reader of the location of the story.

 

The location of the story, or the location of the reporter when he wrote and reported the story?

There are real ethics and bullshit ethics made up by people who just enjoy making up rules to follow.

 

A lot of our readers have been reading newspapers for 20, 30, 60 years. They are used to are arbitrary, made-up standards.

 

C'mon YF, do better than that.

How about this: If Marissa Mayer was an editor, she should send out a memo telling all reporters when to use a byline and a dateline.

And to the actual discussion, I would think most readers don't even know what datelines signify, or give a damn if they do. Bylines are a little more important, but not as much, seeing that byline strikes rarely have any effect on readership.

 

Yes, bylines, with datelines, of games complied by coaches calls rather than in person reporting. Which for a weekly, that sort of reporting, I think is pretty standard. Personally I wouldn't put a dateline on it unless I was there physically. I figured some places have different styles for that sort of thing....I'd like to think they're trying to let the reader know where the game was rather than consciously trying to lie to the reader.

Parents and the general audience for those stories were probably at the game and know the reporter wasn't, so if they know the general dateline rules they might be confused. But I never felt it was my place to point that out, in a story or even a thinly veiled tweet.

 

Ding, ding, ding!!!! Winner!!!!

You egotistical morons have no clue. The majority of readers never notice the byline or dateline. On top of that, they don't give a shit who wrote it or where it was written.

This is all about you (especially the OP) and your fragile little egos.

 

Ego has shit to do with it, Doc. To me, it's about ethics, no matter if readers do or don't notice or care.

 

I agree newspapers should be more transparent.

At the same time, so many places have different policies regarding bylines and datelines that the two have pretty much lost their meaning.

 

Best post on the thread.

 

I didn't realize the New York Times is now a weekly.

 

You're right, it just seems like such a waste of time to bother lying on a dateline on a prep story....if that's their conspiracy then its pretty lame. To what end? What's gained?