Bullet-point journalism

December 20, 2013

My key point:  News publications  should start using a bullet-point format so that readers can quickly learn the main points of news stories of interest to them.

One of the things I LOVE about the internet is that I can get huge amounts of news in a very short time.   That also means, of course, that there is more news available than I can possibly read and absorb.   Too often, from my perspective, it takes too long to read the stories, themselves, or watch the on-line video.

Publications, whether on-line or in print, should have 3 levels of story

  1. Headline:  People can know topic and decide whether they want to know more
  2. Bullet-point summary of key points: For those who are interested but rushed
  3. Story:  For those who are interested in more detail

When the headline leads to a video

  1. Headline
  2. Bullet-point summary: For those who read faster than they can listen or don’t want to take time to watch the video
  3. Video

What do you think?