A byline is a credit given to a writer for a particular piece of written work. The byline generally appears at the top of the article, often alongside the headline. Bylines are typically used in magazine features, newspaper stories and other types of journalistic writing.
The purpose of using bylines is to clearly identify the creator of the content, letting readers know who wrote the article or other written work. By identifying the person responsible for the work, it increases the credibility and accountability of the content. The writer should then be credited with the work they produced. This provides them with a form of acknowledgement, credibility and recognition.
In addition, bylines are beneficial as they can provide readers with an insight into the author and can often lead them to other articles written by the same person. This increases the chances of readers to come across other pieces of work written by the same writer. This not only helps build the authors recognition, but also increases their chances of potential syndication.
Despite being largely beneficial, bylines can often be an issue and can lead to problems. For instance, it can be an issue if there is more than one author of the piece, leading to confusion as to who should be credited for the work. There are many different approaches which can be used to share authorship, such as having multiple authors listed in order of most significant contribution, or alternatively a principal author credited alongside ‘with’ a particular contributor.
In other cases, it can be difficult to decide whether a byline should be included if the work is created by a company, a group or a number of anonymous writers. Should a byline be included at all? This can often lead to debates among writers and the organisation.
The Four Types of Bylines
When discussing bylines, it is important to understand the four types of bylines which can exist.
The first type of byline is the standard author’s byline, where the author’s full name is credited as the writer of the article. This is the most common form and what is expected when discussing bylines.
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The second type is the shared byline. This form often occurs when there are two or more authors who contributed equally to the article. These authors are equally credited, however it is important to note that the reader can’t determine how the authors divided the work. In these cases, it is important to identify the principal author.
The third type of byline is the anonymous byline. This is rarely used but does exist in some cases. Example of these types of articles may be in circumstances where an author may be revealing secrets about another individual, organisation or government and therefore is impossible to identify.
The fourth type of byline is the ghostwritten byline, where a piece of writing is credited to an individual who had a limited role in the production of the article. This often occurs when a business or organisation commissions a person to write the article and then takes full credit of the work. The potential issue of this situation is the lack of recognition which the writer of the article will receive.
Legal Considerations
When discussing bylines, it is important to consider the implications of the legal environment.
As stated above, bylines are not always a representation of the individual who is responsible for the creation of the written work, but in some cases, this can be the case. For instance, in an employment situation, it may be the case that all written work is the property of the employer.
In these types of cases, the employer will claim all rights reserved to the contents of the article, including the byline. This means that there is no guarantee that the author of the article will be credited for the work. This type of situation often raises ethical issues, as the writer and creator of the work is not receiving the recognition they deserve.