Variation by Type of Article and Type of Newspaper
Although the patterns described above held true for virtually all articles in the sample, we found some variation by article type. The articles fell into four categories based on length, level of detail, and focus. Crime reports (18% of the 922 articles) are brief, formulaic descriptions of reports made to the police, and average 48 words per article. They are generally contained in their own section, labeled “crime reports” or “law and order,” with no individual headlines. Short reports (31%), which average 163 words per article, are concise descriptions of a specific, very recent event. Long reports (46%) also focus on a single crime or series of related crimes but tend to be longer (averaging 547 words per article) and more detailed, often following up on a short report and providing context or interview quotes. Feature stories (6%), in contrast, tend to be much longer (1,576 words per article, on average) and focus not on a single event but rather on a larger story or issue (e.g., sexual assault in the military), embedding accounts of specific assaults within this larger context. The attacks described in feature stories also tend to be located further in the past, whereas the three types of reports are usually about very recent incidents.