Here’s something that you might not notice unless it’s directly pointed out: Gannett newspapers nationwide, including the Des Moines Register, Iowa City Press-Citizen, and Ames Tribune, have changed how dates are written in their stories. This has been going on for between five and six months now.
Associated Press stories and media outlets that otherwise adhere to AP style follow the historical guidance: Use the day of the week “within seven days before or after the current date.” (“Today” is not AP style but some outlets use it.)
Starting May 15, “USA Today Network Style” has this rule on dates:
Because of the permanence of stories in digital, we will discontinue the practice of using days of the week within seven days of publication, as well as using today, yesterday or tomorrow as time elements. We now will only use the month and date. Avoid phrases such as this week or next month when possible. This rule will go across digital and print so that stories do not have to be reedited.
Such a change would take a large load off anyone who’s looking at stories that will be in print the following Sunday. The primary story in the Sunday Register’s A section June 15 had been online since Thursday morning.
(At my present job, I will still be looking for all those “this week”s and occasionally even “this month”s to fix in news stories.)