Long-form journalism

{{Short description|Branch dedicated to larger amounts of content}}

Long-form journalism refers to a genre of journalism characterized by in-depth reporting and storytelling that has more substantial content than the average news report.{{Cite book |last=Braghieri |first=Marco |title=Yesterday's News: The Future of Long-Form Journalism and Archives |date=2021 |publisher=Peter Lang Ltd. International Academic Publishers |isbn=978-1-78997-942-8 |location=Oxford}}{{Citation |last=van Krieken |first=Kobie |title=Literary, Long-Form, or Narrative Journalism |date=2019 |work=The International Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies |pages=1–7 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118841570.iejs0135 |access-date=2025-04-17 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781118841570.iejs0135 |isbn=978-1-118-84157-0|url-access=subscription }} These pieces often explore topics with greater detail, context and narrative techniques, blending factual reporting with literary elements such as character development, scene-setting and dialogue. Because long-form journalism usually employs stylistic and structural elements often used in fiction, it is sometimes referred to as literary journalism or narrative journalism. While traditionally associated with print newspaper articles, the digital revolution expanded the genre's reach to online magazines, newspapers and other digital platforms, which often use a blend of multimedia to create an immersive reader experience.

Characteristics

Structure: Long-form journalism does not follow the inverted pyramid structure that many news reporters and editors favor. Instead, it presents the factual reporting of news in a developed narrative{{Cite journal |last=Conceição |first=Cintia Silva da |last2=Vecchio-Lima |first2=Myrian Regina Del |date=2021-08-01 |title=HYBRID GENDER IN METAMORPHOSIS: analysis of literary journalism characteristics in online editions of the UOL TAB platform (2014–2018) |url=https://doaj.org/article/cb1a0952365d4d0b8b875c7442ea1e55 |journal=Brazilian Journalism Research |language=en |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=306–335 |doi=10.25200/BJR.v17n2.2021.1371 |issn=1808-4079|doi-access=free }} similar to literary fiction, often organizing events chronologically.
Dialogue: Long-form journalism will often include dialogue between two characters as well as internal monologue, or representations of what a character is thinking.
Detail: Long-form stories often include vivid, descriptive details and symbolism.
Voice: The storyteller's voice and style is often more distinct in long-form stories. The author may even use a first-person point of view.
Length: Long-form works aim to capture an audience's attention for an extended period of time. For written articles, this results in lengthier, more content-heavy stories, typically consisting of more than 2,000 words.{{cite news |last=Tenore |first=Mallary Jean |date=Dec 3, 2012 |title=Longform journalism morphs in print as it finds a new home online |url=http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/newsgathering-storytelling/196848/longform-journalism-morphs-in-print-as-it-finds-a-new-home-online/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130106051756/http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/newsgathering-storytelling/196848/longform-journalism-morphs-in-print-as-it-finds-a-new-home-online/ |archive-date=6 January 2013 |accessdate=5 January 2013 |newspaper=Poynter}}

Rather than simply recording what happened, these techniques often serve to explore how and why certain events unfold. The resulting stories provide in-depth coverage of multiple aspects of a topic.

Reporting and gathering information for a long-form story is labor-intensive and time consuming, often requiring the long-form journalist to immerse his or herself in the story and form relationships with its characters.

= Multimedia long-form journalism =

In addition to linguistic characteristics, long-form journalism on digital platforms typically uses multimedia elements to enhance the readers' experience and further immerse them in the story. These digital long-form stories will usually guide the reader through a multimedia experience with seamless transitions between written and visual interactive content.{{Cite journal |last=Hiippala |first=Tuomo |date=2017-04-21 |title=The Multimodality of Digital Longform Journalism |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21670811.2016.1169197 |journal=Digital Journalism |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=420–442 |doi=10.1080/21670811.2016.1169197 |issn=2167-0811}}{{Cite journal |last=van der Nat |first=Renée |last2=Müller |first2=Eggo |last3=Bakker |first3=Piet |date=2023-07-03 |title=Navigating Interactive Story Spaces. The Architecture of Interactive Narratives in Online Journalism |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21670811.2021.1960178 |journal=Digital Journalism |language=en |volume=11 |issue=6 |pages=1104–1129 |doi=10.1080/21670811.2021.1960178 |issn=2167-0811}} Long-form stories that use data to enhance the narrative will likely include data visualizations, like charts and graphs that may even have an interactive component for digital publications.{{Cite journal |last=Garreton |first=M. |last2=Morini |first2=F. |last3=Paz Moyano |first3=D. |last4=Grün |first4=G.-C. |last5=Parra |first5=D. |last6=Dörk |first6=M. |date=2023 |title=Data Stories of Water: Studying the Communicative Role of Data Visualizations within Long-form Journalism |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cgf.14815 |journal=Computer Graphics Forum |language=en |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=99–110 |doi=10.1111/cgf.14815 |issn=1467-8659}}

Multimedia long-form journalism may also take the form of narrative podcasts.{{Cite journal |last=McHugh |first=Siobhán |date=2021 |title=The Narrative Podcast as Digital Literary Journalism: Conceptualizing S-Town |journal=Literary Journalism Studies |volume=13 |issue=1}}

History

= Origins =

The narrative structure of long-form journalism was common to most news stories in the 18th and 19th centuries, when news articles would often resemble short stories with chronological structures that placed the most newsworthy information, the climax, toward the middle or end. But in the early 1900s, news outlets started emphasizing hard facts over artistic storytelling in response to a push for more objective journalism.

= New Journalism (1960s and 1970s)<ref name=":0" /> =

The 1960s and 70s marked a resurgence of narrative techniques in what was known as New Journalism. Influential writers from this period, such as Tom Wolfe, Joan Didion and Hunter S. Thompson, used this hybrid genre of writing nonfiction using fictional storytelling methods.{{Cite book |last=Dowling |first=David Oakey |title=Immersive longform storytelling: media, technology, audience |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-94847-3 |location=New York, NY}} Some examples New Journalism include Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" and Gay Talese’s “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold.”

=21st century=

The digital revolution marked a shift away from print publications. Now as news outlets transition to digital publication, these techniques are often coupled with multimedia elements like photo, audio, video, graphics and maps to further immerse the reader in the experience.{{Cite journal |last=Lassila-Merisalo |first=Maria |date=2014 |title=Story First—Publishing Narrative Long-Form Journalism in Digital Environments |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/773684 |journal=Journal of Magazine Media |language=en |volume=15 |issue=2 |doi=10.1353/jmm.2014.0007 |issn=2576-7895}} The digital long-form story gained popularity in the 2010s, particularly after the release of John Branch's New York Times article, Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek. Blogs and media organizations including Medium, The Caravan,{{Cite web|last=Bansal|first=Shuchi|date=2013-04-24|title=As magazines dwindle, Delhi Press seeks to add more|url=https://www.livemint.com/Consumer/78YQTesQtr28UUC18SQI9J/As-magazines-dwindle-Delhi-Press-seeks-to-add-more.html|access-date=2021-02-14|website=mint|language=en}} BuzzFeed{{cite news|last=Alexander C.|first=Kaufman|title=How BuzzFeed Is Betting on Hollywood, Long-Form Writing to Grow|url=http://www.thewrap.com/media/column-post/how-buzzfeed-betting-hollywood-long-form-writing-grow-64726|accessdate=5 January 2013|newspaper=The Wrap|date=January 4, 2013}} and The New York Times{{cite news|last=Sulliven|first=Margaret|title=It Was a Big Year for Long-Form Journalism at The Times|url=http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/31/it-was-a-big-year-for-long-form-journalism-at-the-times/|accessdate=5 January 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=31 December 2012 }} created or expanded long-form coverage, and new companies such as The Atavist, Longreads.com, Longform.org, and Longformarticles.net were founded to capitalize on the new interest.{{cite web|last=Zhang|first=Mona|title=Good Times for Long-Form Journalism?|url=http://www.mediabistro.com/10000words/good-times-for-long-form-journalism-longform-ipad-app-new-yorker-david-remnick_b10485|work=10,000 Words|publisher=MediaBistro|accessdate=6 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606082313/http://www.mediabistro.com/10000words/good-times-for-long-form-journalism-longform-ipad-app-new-yorker-david-remnick_b10485|archive-date=6 June 2013|url-status=dead}}

Notable long-form journalism (21st century)

= Periodicals =

The Atlantic Monthly{{Cite web |last=Schwartz |first=Michelle |title=Research Guides: Journalism: Literary and Long-form Journalism |url=https://learn.library.torontomu.ca/journalism/literary |access-date=2025-04-28 |website=learn.library.torontomu.ca |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=CSUSM |first=Amanda Kalish |title=CSUSM Library Guides: News: Longform Journalism |url=https://libguides.csusm.edu/news/longform#:~:text=Longform%20Periodicals%20*%20The%20Atlantic%20Monthly%20(Internet),/%20New%20York%20Times%20Magazine%20(CSUSM%20Library) |access-date=2025-04-28 |website=libguides.csusm.edu |language=en}}
The Economist
The Nation
The New Yorker
The New York Times Magazine
Harper's Magazine
Atavist Magazine is a publishing platform that has been releasing original long-form stories since 2011.

= Stories =

"Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek" by New York Times reporter John Branch won a Peabody Award{{Cite web |title=Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek |url=https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/snow-fall-the-avalanche-at-tunnel-creek/ |access-date=2025-04-27 |website=The Peabody Awards |language=en-US}} and the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing. Snow Fall is often cited as a landmark publication in digital long-form journalism for its innovative use of immersive digital storytelling techniques.
"The Cove," a documentary that prompted public outcry over dolphin killings in Japan.
"A New Age of Walls," a 2016 Washington Post multimedia series about immigration.{{Cite web |title=How the world is heeding the call to ‘build that wall’ |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/world/border-barriers/global-illegal-immigration-prevention/ |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=Washington Post |language=en}}