
The importance of brevity, and how it relates to decline of newspapers - cwan
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/201001/short-writing
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sophacles
Haha, thats a mighty fine article. Lots of words about how newspapers are
overly verbose.

~~~
pasbesoin
I initially thought your comment was perhaps a bit snarky. Two thirds of the
way through the article, and having given up on it myself, I'm less critical
of your comment.

One point I noticed before giving up. He criticizes a 'NYT article' for
injecting what he perceives as the author's opinion. The 'article' actually
appears under their "Dealbook" moniker. Which is, as the URL for the story
tends to confirm, a _blog_. You know, where sometimes opinion is allowed.

    
    
        http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/windfall-seen-as-bank-bonuses-are-paid-in-stock/
    

I do agree with the overall sentiment: These days, I find many news stories
painful to read, and frustrating when I find the actual facts I'm after in the
17th paragraph and/or scattered throughout in seemingly haphazard fashion --
introduced wherever the over-arching effort in creative writing leaves a bit
of suitable room. Sometimes, something like USA Today is a relief simply
because what stories they do run are briefer and written more in the
traditional top down structure that tries to put a summary of the most
relevant information at the top and then elaborates on it below.

Not that USA Today is a substitute for the newspapers of yore. But neither is
some of the byline heavy tripe that's become so pervasive.

    
    
      -- Just Another GOM (Grumpy Old Man)

