Why Long Form Stories Disappearing from The Wall Street Journal Isn't a Bad Thing

The Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) has an interesting piece today that details how long form writing has vanished from the Wall Street Journal since Rupert Murdoch took over. As you can see from the chart on the right, there were 800 1,500 word or longer pieces in the Journal in 2006, but in 2007, the year Murdoch purchased the paper, those longer articles started dropping immediately.

Using an estimate for this year, CJR writes that long form journalism has dropped by 70 percent under Murdoch’s guidance, and that’s not good:

…Without going long, it’s hard to achieve greatness.