Stories and news reports: There is a difference

For a couple of days now, I've been thinking about a New York Times reprint of the obituary of Harriet Beecher Stowe, who died July 2, 1896. It was part of the Times' "On This Day" feature. It caused me to think about how journalism was practiced back then and how it is today. And how newspapers were used then and how they are used today.

The obituary ran 30 paragraphs and 2666 words – a length few stories reach today. But it was a narrative – and that's the departure from what appears in today’s newspapers. We’ve let reporting news dominate telling stories. The news, back in 1896, was that the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin died, and the story told of that death. But it told of that death in much greater detail than would be included today, using adjectives and nouns with great flourish. It detailed her life, and how she came to write her opus. It made reading about nephews and nieces and family servants interesting.

Sure, we do that at times (the Journal Sentinel just told the story of a baby orangutan as a narrative, the first of three parts is here), but that’s the exception. For example, the front covers of both the Times and Journal Sentinel today include nary a “story,” just news reports. Could it be that they’re not as much fun to read now as back in the day when newspapers were viewed as entertainment as much as news reports?

Maybe that's why they aren't a part of many peoples lives today.