A dateline is a brief piece of text included in news articles that describes where and when the story was written or filed,[1] though the date is often omitted.
In the case of articles reprinted from wire services, the distributing organization is also included (though the originating one is not).
[3] UPI and the Associated Press omit a dateline "when a story has been assembled from sources in widely separate areas.
"[4][5] In other cases, the exact location may be unknown or intentionally imprecise, such as when profiling a riverboat plying its route,[6] when covering military operations while on a ship at sea or following an invasion force, or when covering a press conference aboard an airplane.
For example, the last bit of a report could sound like: A number of current affairs TV shows have dateline as part of their name.