The leading US news agency, the Associated Press, wants its reporters to file shorter stories. One of its executives, Brian Carovillano sent a memo to staff asking reporters and editors to ensure articles are "more comprehensive" and "tightly written."
Most stories should be between 300 and 500 words while the more important ones should be between 500 and 700 words.
Carovillano wrote: "We are failing to exercise important news judgment when our stories are overlong and not tightly edited. We will be closely monitoring story lengths across state and national lines to make sure we are all living up to this commitment."
He believes readers lack the attention span for long stories and that too much valuable time is being wasted by editors needing to cut lengthy copy.
Evidently, AP journalists can expect training sessions to help them write more tightly. (Sounds like a perfect job for an unemployed British newspaper sub).
And well done to Carovillano for ensuring that his memo obeyed his new rules. It came in at just 476 words.
Source and full memo: Washington Post
