The letter on the city-room bulletin board of the Chicago Daily News brought staffers around to read and argue. Written by Douglas Martin, professor of journalism at the University of Arizona, it was a report to the News on a "readability" survey of Chicago newspapers made by his students. Like many good newsmen, Martin, onetime managing editor of the Detroit Free Press, thought that short sentences and short words made for easier reading (TIME, Feb. 16). Wrote Martin: "Your sentences averaged 21.6 words . . . Syllables averaged 163 to 100 words. You were under the [Chicago] Tribune in [length of]...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
