'Post' runs longform 'Post Moderns' each week, audience proves they're well liked
Longform is dead, except when it isn't.
At least that's what our Post reporters have been hearing.
It's been pummeled into journalists' minds that a reader can't possibly stomach a couple thousand words on any given topic — whether that be The Post's articles on polyamorous relationships, dissociative identity disorder, street performers or co-ops — because humans simply have lost interest in anything that takes longer than 15 minutes to complete.
Despite that unproven theory, The Post has had more than 5,500 online page views combined on all five "Post Modern" pieces we've run so far this year.
Post Moderns are typically thousand-word stories that delve into complex topics that take weeks (in some cases, months) to research, and we run a Post Modern in print and online each Wednesday. We've been pleased to learn that readers can, in fact, digest a few thousand words, and might even enjoy doing so.
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The idea that longform has died is completely ludicrous, and rests on the notion that readers only desire quick-hit pieces they can read on their smartphones while walking to class. To be fair, we write those quick-hit stories, too. To be even more fair, I also enjoy quick-hit stories and find myself getting frustrated with stories that are unnecessarily long.
But some stories are long out of necessity. Some stories are beautifully written, well-researched, contain deep narrative and deserve the writer's love and the reader's attention.
When we hear longform is dead, we don't stop pushing forward Post Modern. We just look to make it better.
Emma Ockerman is a junior studying journalism at Ohio University and editor-in-chief of The Post. Have a comment about Post Modern? Email her at eo300813@ohio.edu or Tweet her at @eockerman
