Long form journalism in the digital age

I wake with the sun. Roll over. Grab my iPhone 6 Plus from my nightstand and scroll through dozens of notifications: CNN, BBC News, NPR News and the local news app, among others.

“Ex-CIA operative calls for new election,” CNN states.

The News & Advance warns me of a car thief running loose in Forest, Virginia.

As I slept, the world progressed. Words written. Pictures taken. And when I wake, there are endless bites of local, national and world news for me to enjoy along with my morning cup of coffee.

Previously, journalism was limited to the borders of newsprint. Now, with the progression of the internet, shortened attention spans and easy access to any and everything, journalists face the dilemmas of producing unique content, keeping their reader’s attention and crafting in-depth, informative stories.

“The journalism industry is not in despair,” Brian Storm, president of MediaStorm, said in an interview with Melissa Ludtke. “It’s simply going through redefinition.”

The past fifty years have proved to be a transitory time for the field of journalism. With the rise of devices such as televisions, personal computers and smart phones, the platform for gathering and reading news has expanded and shifted into something virtually unrecognizable from journalism’s original form: newsprint.

Per Leigh Doyle, author of So Long, an article published in the Spring 2005 edition of the Ryerson Review of Journalism, long form journalism is merely a progression of the news writing industry. As digital means of storytelling (I.e., radio, television and internet) progress, so did the print means of storytelling. New Journalism- long form journalism highlighting good story telling and detail- rose in popularity in the 1960s and 1970s. This, in part, was due to the popularity of magazines at the time.

Another factor propelling long form journalism was the financial stability for writers. With decent base pay, writers had the flexibility to put time and effort into longer articles because they would ensure payoff.

So why is long form journalism decreasing now?

Doyle proposes two reasons: insufficient pay for authors and lack of reader motivation.

Though these two reasons do not seem to have overlap, I think they do for a less-than-obvious reason which will be explained later in this post, after I share both reasons.

“Many readers aren’t up for longer pieces,” Matthew Church, former editor of Saturday Night, said in an interview with Leigh Doyle.

Per a Microsoft consumer study, the average human has an 8 second attention span as opposed to the twelve second attention span in 2000. Because of this shift, many scholars believe that our minds are adapting to the constant intake of information from various media platforms.

Though Americans are primarily reading headlines and are having difficulty focusing on longer forms of media, some believe that long form writing is not, in-fact, dead.

Gary Ross, editor of Saturday Night, stated in an interview with Leigh Doyle that, “[Baby boomers are] not going to read a lousy 8,000-word piece. But if it’s a brilliant 8,000-word piece, I think they will.”

And though Ross’s statement is specific to baby boomers, he claims that the problem with shortened attention span is not necessary a result of advances in technology. Rather, it is a result of undernourished journalism.

“Feature stories are a lot like ice cream,” Edward Friedlander and John Lee said in Feature Writing: The Pursuit of Excellence. “Few ice cream lovers are neutral about a hot fudge sundae smothered with rich, foamy whipped cream and capped with a blushing cherry. And few newspaper readers are neutral about a well-written, anecdotally rich, professionally illustrated news or timeless feature.”

If the writer is unable to grab the reader’s attention, the writer cannot keep the reader’s attention.

“Everyone is being asked to do everything and nobody is allowed to do in-depth quality journalism,” Storm said.

Now more than ever, the world is connected.

Journalism has shifted from being a print profession to being a multimedia work field. The job description for the journalist has changed from writer to writer, photographer, videographer and editor. The journalist is required to work independently and complete an entire package, producing quantities of work rather than quality work.

There is little time for long-form journalism in the digital age. People want news, and they want it now.

It appears audiences care more of immediacy than innovation.

Per Doyle, “Many writers cannot avoid romanticized notions when talking about long-form articles. They regard it as the heart and soul of journalism… A long article, done well, teaches and encourages readers to learn more.”

Unfortunately, few publications take the time and space to publish long form articles, claiming several reasons for the lack of reader sustenance.

Among the variety of reasons, publications’ top two claims for lack of long form writing are lack of writer motivation and reader interest.

Doyle explains that the standard fare for freelance work has not changed in over 10 years, and writers cannot justify writing long form, in-depth articles for such little pay. May freelance writers write a combination of long form pieces, shorter articles and supplementary pieces to pay the bills.

However, most writers do not go into the field of journalism for the pay. Why then do writers go into the field of journalism?

“We’re curious and want to learn about the world,” Storm said. “It’s an incredible gift to enter into someone’s life and tell their story.”

In my opinion, Storm is correct in his assertion of journalists. As a journalist in training, I am curious of the world around me, and journalism is an excellent field in which to satisfy that curiosity.

Though long form journalism is not completely diminished as a form of journalism, the decline in longer, more in-depth articles influences the field of journalism:

1: Short form stories are more cost effective for news agencies

“The phrase that comes into that conversation is “do more with less,” Storm states in his interview with Ludtke. “It’s not a journalistic decision; it’s not a decision being driven around telling better stories. It’s the decision being driven by creating stories in ways that are more economical, more fiscally responsible.”

Though it may be more cost effective, the decision to have a single journalist fulfill the role of an entire media team may compromise the integrity of journalism.

When a journalist is stretched thinly, his or her work is not nearly as high quality as that done in a collaborative environment. Long form journalism crafted in a collaborative environment tends to be more powerful, in-depth stories.

In the words of Storm, these types of stories are “universal stories that are not perishable.”

2: Short form journalism eradicates the need for as many professional journalism

This signature mark of long form journalism is difficult to find in shorter articles because with a smaller word count, there is less space to share. Stories are often stripped down to their naked frame, free of details and other elements necessary to breathe life into the events.

And without these details, there is less need for professional journalism. Brief, surface level journalism is not a difficult feat to accomplish. This removed the need for professional journalists and opens the door for citizen journalism.

However, this is a two-sided coin. On one hand, citizen journalism is beneficial for professional journalists because it alleviates the need for journalists to produce the surface level work, giving the professionals room to write the deeper stories.

3: Newspaper circulation is decreasing

“Newspaper circulation is declining in total numbers in most parts of the United States and particularly when measured against population growth,” Friedlander and Lee said. “Many remaining core readers are quickly defecting to these new interactive new media forms.”

Though newspaper circulation is decreasing, people are still consuming news and features. The internet provides a different, more immediate platform for receiving news and features.

Friedlander and Lee claimed that, “newspapers are capitalizing on their strengths.”

By splitting the content between online platforms and print platforms, news organizations can split up the content in such a way as to provide the public with information and stories that translate well between platforms.

“Media experts are betting that the internet feature and its re-packed print-based cousin may, in fact, be the newspaper’s ultimate secret weapon,” Friedlander and Lee said.

Good, long form writing is hard to find, but magazines, newspaper and journals are full of good, substantial pieces of journalism.

They are not immediate. They are not at my fingertips, but they are available and accompanied by an experience.

The news, the stories and the experiences are not easy to find. But given a strong cup of coffee and an abundance of publications, it is possible to find gems of writing in the expanse of words.