The place of longform in online journalism: quality versus quantity and a few considerations regarding consumption

Abstract

A recent phenomenon in online journalism, longform journalism has been drawing attention for its characteristics, especially in regards to the text’s size and depth, in contrast with early online journalistic narratives, based on a simple and fragmented text. The trend stands out in major newspapers and renowned magazines, in products such as large multimedia reports that proliferate in websites specialized in this format. In the ever-changing scenery and evolution of online journalism, discussions regarding the effectiveness of this type of narrative as far as their consumption come up for debate. The purpose of this article is to discuss and question longform journalism, investigating where, how it is done, and how it is being read. Through a literature review and interviews with newspaper editors of the online paper Folha de S. Paulo and the UOL portal, the article uses the exploratory method with the objective of defining the “state of the art” of this phenomenon, and questioning its consumption.