Dateline

A dateline is a standardized line of text that appears at the very beginning of the body copy of a press release, immediately before the first sentence of the opening paragraph. It identifies the city of origin and the date the release is issued.

Standard Format

A typical dateline looks like this: NEW YORK, March 27, 2026 — followed immediately by the opening sentence of the release. The city name is written in capitals, followed by the state abbreviation for US cities that require disambiguation, then the full date, then an em dash.

For international businesses distributing press releases into the US market, the dateline city is typically the company's primary operating location or, in some cases, the city most relevant to the news being announced.

Why the Dateline Matters

The dateline is a trust signal in press release formatting. Journalists and editors who receive hundreds of releases recognize a properly formatted dateline as an indicator that the issuing party understands professional standards. A missing or incorrectly formatted dateline is a small but avoidable signal that the release was not written by someone with PR experience.

For press release distribution via newswire, the dateline is also used by syndication partners to categorize and route releases geographically.

Dateline vs. Distribution Date

The dateline date is the official release date — the date the news is announced. This may differ from the date the release was written or the date the wire distribution was submitted, particularly when releases are prepared in advance of a timed announcement.