Nieman Fellow Analyze the Poor Quality of American News Writing

In answer to a challenge by Theodore Morrison on the quality of American newspaper writing, this year's 12 Nieman Follows have compiled a 60-page study of "Reading, Writing and Newspapers" into a special edition of the Nieman Reports issued yesterday.

The report is the direct result of a question put to the Fellows last December by Morrison in his bi-monthly Nieman writing seminar; Morrison asked why is the quality of American newspaper writing so poor? The three-months' study consists of 12 articles by the Fellows, an introduction by Morrison, and a preface by Louis M. Lyons, Curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism.

The symposium points out specific conditions that obstruct good news writing today, indicates some methods of correction, and notes certain conditions that are nearly impossible to remedy, Nation-wide distribution of the report to newspapers, libraries, and schools is planned.

In the preface Lyons declares that there is "more cars for the matter than the manner" in reporting news. Morrison, in his "challenging, introduction," criticizes of four weaknesses of newspaper writing: organization, sentence structure, suppression of transitions, and false emotion and color.

Among the conditions obstructing good writing noted by the Niemans in their 12 unsigned articles are the legmans system, certain writing "taboos and phobias,' and inter-paper competition for the reader's attention.

Mental discipline in organization, straight-forward writing, and elimnation of unnecessary words would improve the quality of newspaper writing, the Niemans suggested, And "there are plenty of ways of getting around the standard top-heavy from of the story." Articles should not be jammed into a set pyramid style of writing when a narrative method would serve more effectively, one Fellow asserted.

Several conditions in the newspaper business make certain phases of news writing almost impossible to improve, the Niemans pointed out, mentioning, among other things, the necessity to write quickly for a deadline.

The report is the first major Nieman study since the publication in 1947 of Your Newspaper