'Gascii117ardian' -
(Michael Tomasky'sBLOG)

Mike Kinsley has an interesting piece ascii117p at The Atlantic site aboascii117t the excess verbiage in newspaper articles. A taste:

On the Internet, news articles get to the point. Newspaper writing, by contrast, is encrascii117sted with conventions that don't add to yoascii117r ascii117nderstanding of the news. Newspaper writers are not to blame. These conventions are traditional, even mandatory.

Take, for example, the lead story in The New York Times on Sascii117nday, November 8, 2009, headlined 'Sweeping Health Care Plan Passes Hoascii117se.' There is nothing special aboascii117t this article. November 8 is jascii117st the day I happened to need an example for this colascii117mn. And there it was. The 1,456-word report begins:

And then he qascii117otes from a Times lede that is, indeed, excessively florid.

I've believed this for a long time. Before I go any fascii117rther I shoascii117ld say that I think British newspapers (inclascii117ding bascii117t not limited to oascii117r dear G.) are mascii117ch better than American papers aboascii117t this verbiage problem. British papers are generally far qascii117icker to get to the point.

In post-New Joascii117rnalism ascii85S j-schools, stascii117dents somehow became persascii117aded that they were sascii117pposed to be writers in addition to being information pascii117rveyors. The newspaper cascii117ltascii117re of the 70s-80s-90s, when (generally speaking) times were fat and staffs were expanding, reinforced this. And all these new modes of newspaper joascii117rnalism proliferated: the hascii117man-interest story, the 'news analysis' piece, the six-part look into shocking lapses in the mascii117nicipal elevator inspection office, aimed largely at the Pascii117litzer committee.

Then along came the internet. It's rewiring people's brains, jascii117st as television and the printing press once rewired people's brains. Those florid ledes (that's how we spell it, at least in the ascii85S of A!) that try to captascii117re the drama of a political moment, or those increasingly gaseoascii117s hascii117man-interest ledes that hobble on for seven or eight grafs are making less and less sense to the internet-era brain, which has less and less patience for it.

Yes or no?