zlacker

>>tysone+(OP)
Why do these articles always start with a story about a person? I see this in nearly all articles from american news papers. It's strange.

Seems like a paper from a young student who needs to get his 3000 wordcount.

It just bloats the article and makes it difficult to get the information out of it.

>>Tommek+R11
That is what people are taught good journalism is. I agree, it's annoying and time consuming. It is disrespectful of my time as a reader.

>>cyborg+951
You're not the only reader.

Most humans remember personal narratives far more efficiently than they parse data tables. Humans who don't operate like this are very much an exception.

So this is a communication technique - part of rhetoric, in fact. And communicating with median readers is what journalists are paid to do.

>>TheOth+o81
I'm not arguing for removing all personal stories from journalistic articles. But if every single Article I read has a headline that I am interested in, but then asks me to read a long personal story before it will actually explain to me what the headline means, it will discourage me from reading articles. In fact, it already has.

Journalist aren't just paid to communicate with median readers, but with all readers. If close to all articles have the same format some readers will be put off by that.

I'm not arguing for removing all personal stories. Just for more of a balance.