Longer News Turned Elite

This chapter considers the elitism in digital media. During the early years of the Internet in the 1990s, there were high expectations for new media and harsh criticism for legacy news. A decade later a majority of U.S. newspapers had an online presence, and reporters and editors claimed that technology was changing what they do. However, U.S. news followed, and even continued in digital venues, the century-spanning trend of growing longer. The chapter argues that long stories are a sign of status in line with the elitism of American modernism. Elite writers appear to write the longest and elite readers to read the longest daily news. Efforts are made to serve the elites because they are the ones most likely to contribute to political parties and run for political office. In contrast, short, realist news articles match the predilections and limited time and resources of the non-elite: the wage laborer, the working parent, the immigrant learning the language, the less educated, the young, the poor.