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BBC and CNN are both intentionally written with an accessible and simple style, sticking to common words and simple grammar. Motivated 10-year-olds should be ab
by jacobolus 9y ago
BBC and CNN are both intentionally written with an accessible and simple style, sticking to common words and simple grammar. Motivated 10-year-olds should be able to read them without much trouble, or a busy adult should be able to skim their stories while doing something else.
The New Yorker is written for a much more literate audience and the goal of its essays is to be engaging to that audience, not just share the daily news.
(Note: there’s nothing inherently bad about either of these editorial choices.)
- paradite 9y agoThanks for the reply. Clearly I am not the intended audience for this piece of essay. Just out of curiosity, can you gauge how many percent of the US population would find such essays engaging? Not to start a flamewar, but I am genuinely curious.
- jacobolus 9y agoThe New Yorker has a circulation of about 1 million, which is about half a percent of US adults. The potential audience they’re aiming at is maybe more like 5–10% of the population. The archetypal New Yorker subscriber is a professional with a postgraduate degree who reads high-brow fiction as a hobby.
- brianwawok 9y agoYou can push a button in word and it will tell you the grade level of reading to understand a piece. I think there are a few differnent algos for this. Different news orgs tend to have different grade levels of writing. You tend to write towards your target demiograph. The new yorker is aimed at college educated white peopoe I suspect, so would be at a higher level than a paper aimed to the masses.