Dateline, Media Contact and End Mark: The Parts Newswires Require

Every press release needs three pieces of fixed furniture: a dateline at the start of the first paragraph giving the city and the date, a media contact block near the end with a real person's name and email address, and an end mark, usually ###, showing where the release finishes. Common newswire rules require a city, a date and a contact, and a release missing them is commonly sent back before it is published. They take a minute to get right and are easy to forget.

What is a dateline?

The dateline is the line that opens the first paragraph. It gives the place the news comes from and the date of the release, followed by a dash, and then the first sentence runs straight on from it.

LONDON, UK, 7 October 2026 — Acme Invoicing, a London-based invoicing software company for freelancers, today launched same-day payouts to UK bank accounts.

The city is conventionally written in capitals. Some newswires add the country or state after it; many American newswires write the date month first:

LONDON, October 7, 2026 — Acme Invoicing, a London-based invoicing software company…

Both are correct. Choose one style and use it consistently across your releases. Acme Invoicing is a fictional company, like every company in this post.

Which city should the dateline use?

Use the city where the news happens or, if the news is not tied to a place, the city where the company is based. A company based in Leeds opening a clinic in Manchester could use either; Manchester tells local readers the story is about them. A software update available everywhere would use the head office city.

Use the city, not the neighbourhood or the country alone. "DIDSBURY" is too narrow for most readers and "UK" is too broad to be useful.

Why do newswires ask for a dateline?

Because it answers where and when before the reader reaches the first word of the story, and it fixes the release as a dated record. A release without a date cannot be placed in time: a reader in a year's time will not know whether "today launched" meant last week or three years ago.

What are the common dateline mistakes?

What goes in the media contact block?

The media contact tells a journalist who to call or email about the story. It sits after the boilerplate and before the end mark.

In a published release each item sits on its own line, under the heading. At minimum, include:

• a named person, not just a department;
• an email address that someone reads;
• the company's website.

A telephone number is optional but useful, particularly for news with a deadline. A job title helps a journalist know they have the right person.

Why is a media contact required?

Newswires ask for one because it shows a real, reachable organisation stands behind the release. Journalists need it because they often want to confirm a fact, ask for an interview or request an image before they write. If nobody can be reached, many will move on to a story where someone can.

Some practical points:

• Use an address that is monitored. A no-reply address or an inbox nobody checks is worse than useless.
• Make sure the person knows. The named contact should know the release is going out and be ready to answer questions on the day.
• Think about time zones. If the release is aimed at readers in another region, say when the contact is available or add someone who covers those hours.
• Remember it is public. The contact block is published on every syndicated copy. Use a work address and number you are happy to see indexed.

What is the end mark?

The end mark is a short line, usually ### centred on its own, placed after the media contact to show the release has ended. Some organisations use -30- or, in British practice, the word ENDS.

It exists because releases are copied, reformatted and pasted into other systems. The end mark tells an editor or a newswire where the release text stops, so nothing after it, such as internal notes, gets published by mistake. Many newswires expect it, and it costs nothing to include.

In what order do the closing parts go?

The standard order at the end of a release is:

1. the final paragraph of the story, often the quote or availability details;
2. the boilerplate, "About [Company]", covered in the boilerplate post;
3. the media contact block;
4. the end mark.

The dateline stays at the top, at the start of the first paragraph. The anatomy post shows the whole structure from headline to end mark.

A final check

Before you submit, run through the furniture along with the rest of the release:

1. Does the first paragraph open with the city and the full date, including the year?
2. Do all the dates in the body agree with the dateline?
3. Is there a named media contact with a monitored email address and the website?
4. Does that person know the release is going out?
5. Is there an end mark after the contact block?

These checks sit alongside the wider pre-submission list in the dos and don'ts post.

Frequently asked questions

Can the media contact be an agency rather than someone at the company?

Yes. Many companies use their PR agency as the media contact. Name the person at the agency, give their email and number, and make sure they have the facts and can answer questions or reach someone who can.

Does media:on add these parts for me?

When you order through media:on, the brief asks for the city you are based in and a media contact name and email. The dateline and contact block are built from what you type, and the end mark is added when the release is prepared, so check those details carefully before you approve.

With the furniture in place, the release is complete. The next posts apply it to specific kinds of news, starting with the product launch release.