Reuters extends word limit on stories to global bureaus

Dayan Candappa, editor of The Americas for Reuters, sent out the following message on Monday:

When the Americas rolled out a new approach to managing story length earlier this year, many of you asked when the initiative would go global. The answer is this week. My colleagues Jean Yoon and Richard Mably have told their teams about new length guidelines. For us in the Americas, this is not entirely new. Here is a brief explanation of what changes, why, and what stays the same.

What changes?

The Limits –

• 400 words for spot stories
• 800 words for EXCLUSIVEs, INSIGHTs and the main trunk stories on major news
• 2000 words for SPECIAL REPORTS

Why not stick with the 500 word rule?

The tighter limit for spot copy better reflects the way news is consumed across our different audience types. Most spot stories should be shorter than 500 words. On the other hand, INSIGHTs, EXCLUSIVEs and the trunks of major stories are likely to be read at greater length. The new guidelines mean you don’t need approval to write up to 800 words on these stories.

What stays the same?

The Goal – This is about changing the way we work. A news business such as ours needs to produce lots of valuable commoditized news quickly and efficiently while making space for our journalists to do truly distinctive work. We want to spend as little time and talent as possible on the muddled middle ground where stories are least likely to be read.

The Ambition – We still want deep digging – on reporting beats as well as investigative projects – that leads to dramatic revelations. We will run these stories at a sensible length that reflects their value.

The Gatekeepers – A group of editors sprinkled across our teams will still be authorized to approve exceptions. They will help us avoid foolish consistency and give reporters a voice in the decision.