Quantity Through Quantity
It’s easy to babble. It’s hard to write short. Writing short is a decent thing to do; it saves your reader’s precious time. But once you’re in that mode of writing, it seems even harder to write long. I usually inject a lot of “very”s. I find that very effective.
Or, you have to be a better reporter, so that you’ve learned enough worthy material to earn the length. What if you don’t have the time to report, but still need to write long?
Hmm.
Kinsley remarks on a Tribune Company executive’s plans to measure the productivity of his company’s reporters at papers like the Los Angeles Times. It’s worth reading. The executive will do it by counting each reporter’s column inches of text. More words equals better employees.
But better reporting?
Does it even matter at this point?
Filed under: dissipation, journalism, money, ridiculousness
Tags: Kinsley, LA Times, math, reporting, Slate, Tribune, words
