I am pretty sure this reporting style predates internet journalism. I see it as a very American style. It appears in almost all long form articles in English la

I am pretty sure this reporting style predates internet journalism. I see it as a very American style. It appears in almost all long form articles in English language articles. Almost every article has this irrelevant segue about a third way into it, always with a description of the physical appearance of the character (how they talk, what they wear). It's so boring and useless.