Long-form journalism makes comeback

Rem Rieder | Special for USA TODAY

Consider it the stake through the heart of the once deeply held conviction that the digital world is no place for long-form journalism.

Politico's embrace this week of long-form is a vivid symbol of the way attitudes about digital content have evolved.

Politico, one of the most successful of the new-media initiatives, made its bones as a rapid-response unit. The bible for political junkies, it quickly became known for its determination to "own the morning," if not the minute, with its dispatches on matters of politics large, small and minuscule.

But now it has recruited Susan Glasser, editor in chief of Foreign Policy magazine, to get Politico into the long-form game in a serious way. In a memo announcing Glasser's hire, top Politico editors John Harris and Jim VandeHei made clear that the foray into narrative journalism is a strategic decision, not simply a gesture to foster journalism excellence. "With Susan's help," they wrote, "we intend now to tackle a fresh challenge: embracing what we see as a coming renaissance in long-form journalism, as readers search for distinctive work that cannot be easily cannibalized or commoditized."

Politico's venture comes in the wake of the decision by another new-media success, BuzzFeed, to go long. Best known for its quirky lists that make Politico seem like Proust, the site, after embracing serious political coverage, last November hired former Spin magazine editor Steve Kandell to launch its long-form operation.

Another milestone came last December with the New York Times' "Snow Fall," a spectacular, wildly ambitious multimedia treatment of John Branch's account of a deadly avalanche in Washington state. The project, which attracted a huge audience, in April was recognized with a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. More on that later.

Barb Palser, who has spent her entire 16-year career in new media, has had a close, firsthand view of evolving attitudes toward long-form. Palser, now vice president for account management with Internet Broadcasting, which provides digital publishing, content and ad operations services to local media companies, is pleased by the change. "There's a trend there, and it's encouraging," she says.

In the early days, she recalls, there were two principal reasons that savants didn't think long pieces would flourish online. First, they didn't believe people would want to read lengthy pieces on a computer screen. Second, there was a pervasive sense that the digital world was for "snacking," for accessing quick bursts of information, not deep dives. Both turned out to be wrong.

Of course, the world changed, as well. It's no accident that the heightened interest in long-form and the advent and proliferation of mobile devices came about at the same time. "You can sit on your couch on Saturday morning and catch up on the news," says Palser, who writes a column on emerging media for American Journalism Review. Tablets and phones "are more conducive to spending time on content."

Transporting your reading matter on a mobile device "is more analogous to carrying around a newspaper or a magazine. Now, people get on a plane with a tablet or a Kindle. Maybe the PC was the problem."

Data from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism reinforce the notion that lots of people like to read in-depth journalism on mobile devices. In a study called "Future of Mobile News" last October, Pew found that 73% of tablet owners access long-form content either regularly or sometimes; 19% do so each day. The same overall total was true for phones, with 11% regular consumers

Those readers have healthy appetites. About 60% of the tablet users who access long-form read two to three articles in a sitting, and another 17% read four or more. Often, the report found, they devour articles that they hadn't initially planned to read.

One of the early mistakes of the Internet era was the way traditional news outlets would take their traditional content and simply dump it online, without taking the special nature of the digital world into account. The Times' treatment of "Snow Fall" shows how powerful the results can be when compelling narrative is paired with multimedia embellishments in an organic fashion. Blending video, audio, photos and interactive graphics with fine writing made for an almost breathtaking experience.

Another fine example of Web presentation making strong content even more powerful and accessible was The Washington Post's treatment of Dan Zak's saga of three peace activists penetrating the security of a nuclear-weapons facility in Tennessee. The piece, posted in April, lacked the pyrotechnics of "Snow Fall," but the clean design, chapter-by-chapter approach and bold use of photography and illustration were impressive.

At least at this stage, such efforts tend to be labor-intensive (read: expensive). But, Palser says, "Investing in quality talent and producing great examples of reporting and interactive storytelling can have an important brand-building effect."

While daunting challenges loom for journalism in the digital age, the upsurge in well-told, well-showcased stories is an exciting step in the right direction.

Rieder is editor and senior vice president of American Journalism Review