Whatever happened to real paragraphs?

[Clandy]

Reading BBC News this morning, I noticed that they no longer use paragraphs. We have sentences. Almost every story on the BBC website is broken into single sentence 'paragraphs' (with rare two sentence paragraphs). Are people no longer capable of reading paragraphs? If the BBC dumb things down any further their site will be a comic.

[pcolbeck]

I

don't

know

but

if

it

continues

in

the

same

vein

it

will

end

up

like

this.

[токамак]

They reported a Japanese rocket delivering 'experimental equipment' to the ISS. Am I wrong or should that really be - scientific equipment for experimental use? I mean, 'experimental equipment' would have to be equipment that was not fully tested or proved, no? I doubt that space agencies send equipment into space that hasn't been rigorously tested.

BBC News - Japanese cargo rocket for ISS lifts off

[andygates]

The evolution in paragraphs is a reflection of the medium.  Long, verbose paragraphs are harder to read on-screen, which is what drives shorter, snappier paragraph adoption.  This isn't new - it's standard practice for companies doing more on-screen stuff, and it has been well-known in the industry for many years now.

The content shouldn't change just because the presentation changes: any complaints about slipping journalistic standards will have to stand on their own, and can't be rolled up along with paragraph-length as a catch-all "the Beeb isn't what it used to be..!" complaint.

[Jaded]

The Bbc also has 'problems' with anagrams and apostrophes, the latter seems to be an attempt to distance the Beeb from the possibility of being sued for making a 'mistake' in its journalism. The BBC used to be heralded as the place from which you could learn correct English.

I got them to change "less" to "fewer"on their Tennis feed today.

 

[mattc]

Anagrams ?!?

[Wowbagger]

The Bbc also has 'problems' with anagrams and apostrophes, the latter seems to be an attempt to distance the Beeb from the possibility of being sued for making a 'mistake' in its journalism. The BBC used to be heralded as the place from which you could learn correct English.

I got them to change "less" to "fewer"on their Tennis feed today.

 

Are you sure you should have done? After all, tennis less than 11.

[Jaded]