The new buzz term ‘explanatory journalism’ begs the obvious question – what sort of journalism isn’t explanatory? However, if you can shrug off that annoying tautological platitude, there is something interesting going on here.
Big American media outlets are rushing to satisfy the demand on the web for news with context. As soon as Vox pops its head up, along comes the Upshot from the New York Times. Fascinating sites – both well designed, clean and nearly minimalist in feel. And there are plenty of others offering the same approach.
The first thing you notice is that the pared down style puts the content right up front. No distracting gizmos and display tricks. The words are meant to be read and the photographs are there to make a point not just fill space.
The idea is far from original. Good old print journalism used to spend a lot of time putting news into context. Long background reads were a staple of quality newspapers where every available fact and theory was presented coherently. News magazines found ever more interesting ways to tell the story while television and radio rushed ahead breaking news. It seemed a logical step for print to be more reflective and to put news into context while the instant broadcast media played to their strengths.
Along came the web and the news cycle became ever more frenetic with Twitter actually getting ahead of events and becoming part of the story. In the Arab Spring what came first – the street demonstration or the Twitter call to arms?
And now we have a rash of sites that offer instant context. From The Conversation to Huffpost, from Medium to The Week. Some have a new twist such as Vox’s background cards, others such as The Conversation offer quick access to pools of specialist academic knowledge. One common trait is that those that succeed are adapt at driving you to other content. The context to the context, so to speak.
Another trait is their relative simplicity – particularly the most recent arrivals such as Vox and Upshot. Partially this is a result of the rush to get out there and grab a bit of interesting web real estate, but also a reflection of their function and form. The content comes first as the reader is there to be informed, engaged, even intrigued. The novelty of the medium fades and we get back to basics. Readers want their journalism to be be explanatory.
What is exciting is the verve and creativity the web can unleash. We are doing the same things but with fresher tools. How different is native advertising to advertorials? Isn’t all journalism explanatory?
Graeme Gourlay
Syon MD
