The News Readability Problem

Bibliographic Data

ID12909692
AuthorsLinden Dalecki (Moscow State University of Technologies and Management named after K.G. Razumovskiy, corresponding author), Dominic L Lasorsa (Labex Corail, corresponding author), Susan C Lewis (0000-0001-7498-0599, Labex Corail, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume3
Issue1
Pages1-12
Publication date2009-01-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournalism Practice (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1751-2786 • E-ISSN: 1751-2794
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17512780802560708
OpenAlexW2030251802
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited20

The low readability of news has often been attributed to production and format features, such as deadline pressures and news story organizational features. This study, however, puts the blame elsewhere. News stories written by nine high-profile journalists and later revealed as deceptive were more readable and contained more direct quotations (another readability indicator) than authentic stories generated by the same news organizations. Because the stories were written under similar production and format conditions, these findings indicate that low readability is due to the challenge of journalism to convey information only about the real world. Not so constrained, deceptive “news” portrays a simpler world

Advertising · Blame · Business · Journalism · Political science · Readability · Computer Science · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Psychology · Social Psychology · Text Readability and Simplification

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