While Barbara Streisand’s verbosity has been the subject of one of my previous posts, she has taken it to a whole new level. Consider her letter to the LA Times:This letter is to inform you that I am canceling my subscription to the LA Times, and here is the reason why:The greater Southern California community is one that not only proudly embraces its diversity but demands it. Your publisher’s decision to fire Robert Scheer is a great disservice to the spirit of our community.I’m almost embarrassed for you in seeing the LA Times being referred to as the “Chicago LA Times” on the myriad of internet sites I’ve visited in the last few days. It seems, however, an aptly designated epithet, representing the feeling among many of your readers that your new leadership, especially that of Jeff Johnson, is entirely out of touch with them and their desire to be exposed to views that stretch them beyond their own paradigms. So although the number of contributors to your op-ed pages may have increased, in firing Robert Sheer and putting Jonah Goldberg in his place, the gamut of voices has undeniably been diluted, and I suspect this may ultimately decrease the number of readers of those same pages.In light of the obvious step away from the principals of journalistic integrity, which would dictate that journalists be journalists, editors be editors and accountants be accountants, I am now forced to carefully reconsider which sources can be trusted to provide me with accurate, unbiased news and forthright opinions. Your new columnist, Jonah Goldberg, will not be one of those sources.Robert Scheer’s column, with its often singular voice of dissent and groundbreaking expositional content, has been among the most notable features that have sustained my interest in subscribing to the LA Times for many years now. Apparently, previous leadership at the LA Times had no trouble recognizing Mr. Scheer’s journalistic prowess in that they nominated him for the Pulitzer Prize.My greatest fear is that the underlying reason for Mr. Scheer’s termination is part of a larger trend toward the corporatization of our media, a trend that we, as American citizens, must fervently battle for the sake of our swiftly diminishing free press.Sincerely,Barbra Streisand
Reading this, I once again found her to be unbearably wordy, to the extent that I could hardly concentrate long enough to understand what she was saying. But was this just a feeling, or a scientific fact?
So I decided to investigate. According to the experts, here are some rules for good writing:
Now consider Ms Streisand’s letter. The sentence lengths are as follows:
The average sentence length is 34.5, almost double the suggested average for good writing. In addition, 90% of the sentences are not only above 15 words long, but most of them are well in excess of 20 words long. Lastly, not only did Streisand not avoid sentences over 40 words long, but 50% of the sentences are over this length!
It is therefore no wonder that when the LA Times printed Ms Streisand’s letter in their op-ed section on November 23rd, they not only published only part of the letter, but also cut down some of the sentences.
And this is what ultimately got printed in the Op-Ed section of their November 23, 2005 issue…LETTERSSinging the Op-Ed bluesRe “Times Plans New Op-Ed Lineup,” Nov. 11The greater Southern California community is one that not only proudly embraces its diversity, but demands it. Your decision to fire Robert Scheer is a great disservice to the spirit of our community. It seems that your new leadership, especially Publisher Jeff Johnson, is entirely out of touch with your readers and their desire to be exposed to views that stretch them beyond their own paradigms. So although the number of contributors to your Op-Ed pages may have increased, in firing Scheer and hiring columnists such as Jonah Goldberg, the gamut of voices has undeniably been diluted. I suspect this may ultimately decrease the number of readers of those same pages.My greatest fear is that the underlying reason for Scheer’s termination is part of a larger trend toward the corporatization of our media, a trend that we, as American citizens, must fervently battle for the sake of our swiftly diminishing free press.
Update: Yet she spells her name the “short” way – Barbra, not Barbara. Go figure.
