How long are newspaper articles

He talked recently about the tyranny of the word article. This thinking is reflected in a decision Associated Press took last year. Its journalists were told to make their stories — with a few exceptions — between and words long. Long is not necessarily bad. Rambling is bad. A lack of structure is bad. And an inability to distinguish between A and B matter is bad.

Created for print to allow subeditors to cut copy from the bottom of an article with impunity, the inverted pyramid imposes a discipline on the writer. It dictates that the most newsworthy information leads, followed by the important details and finally the general information and background what Delaney calls B matter. And, to borrow from Kathleen Carroll, it forces the writer to distill and hone.

There are other devices available to the writer to help the digital reader. Historically this type of lead has been used to convey who, what, when and where. Some newspapers are adjusting to this reality by posting breaking news online as it happens and filling the print edition with more evaluative and analytical stories focused on why and how. Leads should reflect this. Anecdotal lead: Sometimes, beginning a story with a quick anecdote can draw in readers.

If you use this approach, specificity and concrete detail are essential and the broader significance of the anecdote should be explained within the first few sentences following the lead. Other types of leads: A large number of other approaches exist, and writers should not feel boxed in by formulas. That said, beginning writers can abuse certain kinds of leads. These include leads that begin with a question or direct quotation and those that make a direct appeal using the word you.

While such leads might be appropriate in some circumstances, use them sparsely and cautiously. Commentary: This lead addresses the traditional who, what and when. If this information had been reported on TV or radio the day before, this lead might not be a good one for the print edition of the newspaper; however, if the reporter had an exclusive or posted this information online as soon as it became available, then this lead would make sense.

Note that it is brief 15 words and uses an active sentence construction. The rest of a news article elaborates on those six questions, going from the most important information to the least important information.

Sometimes an article might include some background or history relevant to the story. Newspaper articles are always organized from most important to least important so that editors can cut paragraphs from the end of the story, should space require it. Newspaper articles have short paragraphs, often one to three sentences. The sentences are usually simpler, declarative sentences, as well--although not always. A newspaper article begins with a dateline, giving the date and location for the reporter when the story is filed with an editor.

A byline is the name of the author. Usually the writer gives the story a working title, sometimes called a "slug," which is also the name of the electronic file where the story is saved.