Field Notes, the notebook printing company with a cult-like following, has developed a limited edition notebook that’s ideal for reporters, and it’s aptly dubbed the Byline edition.
Described as a “new take on a classic form,” the Byline edition takes the concepts behind a traditional reporter’s notebook and perfects it.
It’s slightly narrower than a traditional reporter’s notebook — making it easier to hold with one hand and write with the other.
The cardboard cover is slightly thicker, which offers a sturdier writing surface, and the clunky, Gregg-ruled style has been replaced with college-ruled lines. It also comes with an inside pocket on the back cover, which is perfect for holding receipts or business cards while working a source.
John Dickerson, moderator of CBS’s “Face The Nation,” helped Field Notes develop the spiral-bound gem after he wrote to the company asking them to update the traditional reporter’s notebook and to eliminate all of its kinks.
“I see my job as basically helping people see and to grab ahold of what’s going on,” Dickerson said in a video explaining why he helped develop the notebook. “You can decide to do that the minute you sit down and start writing, or you can just do that all the time and by the time you get to writing you have a notebook of stuff that can be used.”
“If you’ve been collecting all week long and wondering why a thing happens or making an observation about something and using that as a piece of color to explain the political process to somebody then you’ve been doing your work before you ever sat down to do your work,” Dickerson said.
You can find out more about the limited-edition notebook here.