Business Insider’s foray into long-form journalism

Rem Rieder of USA Today writes Thursday about Business Insider and the website’s move to have longer stories.

Rieder writes, “To be sure, Business Insider would not remind you much of The Wall Street Journal or the Financial Times. As I write this, the site’s homepage leads with a piece on a pending construction boom in New York City but also includes such fare as ’25 Secrets That Show That Duck Dynasty Could Be Totally Fake’ and ‘This Map Shows The Best Sandwich From Every State.’

“But it has, as the great former Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee liked to say, ‘nothing but readers.’ According to Google Analytics, the site attracts 24 million unique visitors each month.

“Like many websites, Business Insider has found profits elusive — it lost $3 million last year — but Blodget says it will be in the black this quarter.

“Charged with bringing long-form wonderfulness to this farrago is Aaron Gell, former editor in chief of The New York Observer who also did stints at Radar and W. For Gell, this seemed like an ideal next step.

“‘I heard BI was making real commitment to publishing more long-form articles,’ he wrote via e-mail, ‘and I’d been looking for a route back into journalism after a brief hiatus consulting for a start-up, so I sent over a résumé.’

“As for his new mission, he adds, ‘Like most everyone else in our business, I have a passion for long-form journalism, and going after deeper, more compelling narratives seemed like a natural evolution for BI, which has been on fire as a news operation for a while now.'”

Read more here.