: Re: Why do news articles and press releases start with date and location? Here's what I'm talking about: PALO ALTO, Calif., January 5, 2016 — Example Inc. today delivered on the promise to

@Annie587

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In a news story it is very, very common that you will need to specify the place and the date. A convention that you put it at the beginning of the article is more concisely than working it into the text, and makes it easy to find when people are referring to a newspaper article long after the fact. Sure, you could say, "There was an earthquake in Someville yesterday, January 31, 2016, registering 6.2 on the Richter scale ..." But putting it up front saves a couple of words and probably more important, makes it less likely that you'll forget to say. When you're writing the story, it's obviously "here" and "today", so I can see it being easy to forget to mention that. The reader, of course, may read it days or years from now and could be anywhere.

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