No longer ALLOWED to jump

I agree that each story is different, but there's no reason you can't write a featurized game story in 12 inches. Just because it's a short story doesn't mean it has to be "fact-filled AP copy."

If we're talking feature stories, yes, 12 inches is too short. For a game story, it's pretty easy to write up a 12-inch gamer with some color. And, they usually read a lot better than the 20-inch gamer cluttered with play-by-play, which is often unnecessary.

Years ago, I was freelancing preps for a major daily. We typically turned in 15-inch gamers. We were told to cut them to 10-12. We all griped. In the end, I think it made me a better writer and I wound up liking the finished product better.

 

That's a mighty long story on the front page. Favorite color must be gray at that paper.

 

Our bosses talk about limiting jumps like it's doing the reader a favor. Now, I've never been one to give the readers too much credit, but I'd like to think their attention span can handle a 15-inch story that jumps to Page 3.

 

Oh, our sports section is in the middle of the A section. So they don't want us jumping from our section front. I have broken the rule once or twice in a pinch, however.

 

25, and they enforced the rule on other Gannett papers, too.

 

I agree that sometimes jump are pointless. Like when you a story for the sake of 2 paragraphs. Or when you jump an AP game story that could just as easily be 10 inches as 18.

Sometimes you NEED a jump because it leads into a long agate package (such as all-district or all-state teams).

But to have a hard and fast rule against ANY jumps in an insult to the copy editors. Let them use their judgment to make the best use of their space.

 

Page 2 looks interesting to me:

http://apse.dallasnews.com/news/2009/jan/012709spaceseries2.html


If newspapers aren't relevant then why are there people who bother to complain?

Why can't publishers put dollar numbers on THAT?

 

No jump rules are ridiculous. People will read jumps. It was another ridiculous idea of Gannett. You weren't fooling us, Gannett. People read jumps if the story is interesting to the readership.