Estimating Readability: A Study of Utah Editors' Abilities

Abstract

The study tests how accurately newspaper editors could estimate readability. When given writing samples, managing editors from five of Utah's six dailies rated the stories as 4.2 grade levels easier to read than the measured Flesch readability scores. The results may raise questions about editors' understanding of how audiences perceive content.

Easy to read, easy to judge: Assessing readability as a heuristic for credibility in news

“…Despite calls to solve the problem of declining readability of news content, news stories have become less readable over time (Dalecki et al, 2009; Danielson et al, 1992; Johns & Wheat, 1978; Kleinnijenhuis, 1991; Porter & Stephens, 1989; Tauberg, 2019). Journalists are trained to avoid complicated prose that would be difficult for readers to value (Danielson et al, 1992).…”

Preaching to the choir? An analysis of newspaper readability vis-a-vis public literacy

“…Research indicates that long sentences, usually 25 words or more, create material that is difficult to read (Flesch, 1981; Jung, 2003). Finally, because research shows that a simple eye test is likely to cause writers to underestimate the complexity of news content (Porter and Stephens, 1989), journalists could run computerized readability tests for all stories during the editing process. An automated readability test provides an objective and accurate method to gauge textual complexity.…”

“…The interesting finding here was that immediate gratification news stories such as sports and entertainment were written at a significantly easier reading level than hard news items such as national affairs, science, and business news. In a deeper analysis of news readability, Porter and Stephens (1989) examined the capability of newspaper editors to discern reading difficulty, a test they quickly flunked when they underestimated the complexity of sample reading material by an average of 4.2 grade levels.…”