the.com/byline
The four-word receipt that says: this one's on me, blame and glory included.
means A byline is the line at the top of an article that names its author, crediting (and holding accountable) the person who wrote it.
from A plain compound of "by" plus "line" — literally the line saying a piece was written "by" so-and-so. It rose with the newspaper trade, becoming standard journalist's jargon as the press grew and reporters wanted their names attached to their work.
- latin root
- "by" marks the hand behind the words
- war origin
- Civil War editors added them to assign blame
- once forbidden
- Early reporters wrote anonymously by strict policy
- currency
- Freelancers trade pay for prestige of the credit
- the byline strike
- Journalists withhold names to protest their bosses
associated press — news cooperative founded 1846, bylines appear on thousands of stories daily across member outlets
new york times masthead — newspaper founded 1851, bylines identify reporters on every article in print and online
reuters — news agency founded 1851, bylines credit journalists on wire stories distributed globally