- Write your slug- the shorthand for your story at the top.
- Put your name and your contact information underneath.
- Give us a working title for your story.
- Then put your byline, by Alpha Romeo.
- Write all your copy flush left.
- Leave two spaces between paragraphs.
- Spell out numbers one through nine. Use numerics for 10 and up.
- Write percent instead of %.
- COVID is all caps. We follow the AP style.
- Give us a dateline rather than inserting a date at the top of your story.
- Dateline: Here’s what the AP says about datelines:
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.
8. How to write a dateline:
Datelines on stories should contain a place name, entirely in capital letters, followed in most cases by the name of the state, country or territory where the city is located.DOMESTIC DATELINES: A list of domestic cities that stand alone in datelines:
QUEENS, September 3, 2021
NEW YORK, September 23, 2021
ROCKLAND COUNTY, September 23, 2021
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.
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