diff --git a/matlab/reporting/@graph/createGraph.m b/matlab/reporting/@graph/createGraph.m
index be002fbf0..9486efea4 100755
--- a/matlab/reporting/@graph/createGraph.m
+++ b/matlab/reporting/@graph/createGraph.m
@@ -81,10 +81,10 @@ if o.showZeroline
 end
 
 if ~isempty(o.shade)
-    x1 = find(strcmpi(o.shade(1).format(), xlabels));
-    x2 = find(strcmpi(o.shade(o.shade.ndat).format(), xlabels));
+    x1 = find(strcmpi(date2string(o.shade(1)), xlabels));
+    x2 = find(strcmpi(date2string(o.shade(end)), xlabels));
     assert(~isempty(x1) && ~isempty(x2), ['@graph.createGraph: either ' ...
-                        o.shade(1).format() ' or ' o.shade(o.shade.ndat).format() ' is not in the date ' ...
+                        date2string(o.shade(1)) ' or ' date2string(o.shade(end)) ' is not in the date ' ...
                         'range of data selected.']);
     yrange = get(gca, 'YLim');
 
diff --git a/matlab/reporting/reporting_object_display.m b/matlab/reporting/reporting_object_display.m
index c03148dfa..3e74e61ee 100644
--- a/matlab/reporting/reporting_object_display.m
+++ b/matlab/reporting/reporting_object_display.m
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ for i=1:length(fields)
     elseif isobject(val)
         if isa(val, 'dates')
             fprintf('<dates: %s, ..., %s>', ...
-                    val(1).format, val(end).format);
+                    date2string(val(1)), date2string(val(end)));
         elseif isa(val, 'dseries')
             if numel(val) == 1
                 fprintf('<dseries: %s>', val.name{1});