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>Ben Smith, editor in chief of BuzzFeed, a news and entertainment site, said his rule for writing and reporting in a fragmented age is simple: “no filler.” News
by vonklaus 12y ago
>Ben Smith, editor in chief of BuzzFeed, a news and entertainment site, said his rule for writing and reporting in a fragmented age is simple: “no filler.” News organizations that still publish a print edition, he said, have slots — physical holes on paper or virtual ones on a home page — that result in the publication of stories that are not necessarily the most interesting or timely, but are required to fill the space. It was partly to discourage such slot-filling that BuzzFeed did not focus on its home page when it first started, he said.
In summation, buzzfeed has a commitment to only report current events, and the most interesting and thought provoking content. They have a strict "no filler" mandate and a commitment to only report important news stories.
>Not sure this guy has ever even read buzzfeed
- netcan 12y agoRegardless of buzzfeed's standards for "thought provoking" and the superficial irony, I think there's a point here. But, I think it's only half the equation. Filler is pointless. But, an even more important point is depth. If someone has an interesting point of view on anything from ISIS in Iraq, post conflict Russia-Ukraine relations to the medium term implications of lower oil costs on energy exporting economies of South American there is an unlimited level of depth that a reader may want to get into. IE, there's a place for recent facts in headlines, there is a place for two minute commentary. But, there is also room for people to jump into far more depth. Whether in print of on video, those talking heads frame a battling for 12 second soundbites in a battle of of cliche and shallow wit are now pointless. If people want to engage deeper, there is no page limit.