Formula 14 W

The letter on the city-room bulletin board of the Chicago Daily News brought staffers around to read and argue. Written by Douglas Martin, professor of journalism at the University of Arizona, it was a report to the News on a "readability" survey of Chicago newspapers made by his students. Like many good newsmen, Martin, onetime managing editor of the Detroit Free Press, thought that short sentences and short words made for easier reading (TIME, Feb. 16). Wrote Martin: "Your sentences averaged 21.6 words . . . Syllables averaged 163 to 100 words. You were under the [Chicago] Tribune in [length of] sentences but over in syllables. The Sun-Times beat both of you . . ." To Martin's note, City Editor Clem Lane had scribbled an approving p.s.: "Let's shorten the sentences and shorten the words . . ." Later, scanning a long-sentenced lead by Veteran Rewriteman Robert Faherty, Lane growled an even more explicit order: "Let's keep the sentences under 15 words." Wounded, Bob Faherty decided to take Lane literally, began to brood over what he called "Formula 14 W."

In an 1,800-word grouse in the current American Newspaper Guild Reporter that was well sprinkled with 25-word sentences, Faherty ended on a 14 W note: "It isn't writing. It's cutting paper dolls." To prove his point, Faherty cited "fine, lucid" leads in the New York News (48, 32, 34 words), the Herald Tribune (60, 65), the Christian Science Monitor (34, 62, 66).

After two months' experience with 14 W, Faherty was convinced that it might be readable but not writeable: "The formula wastes writer-time ... It wastes writer-skill. It kills writer-creativeness . . . The formula wastes space [by forcing the writer to break up sentences and use extra words instead of commas] . . . Abnormality and artificiality [of style] are instantly evident."

In reply, City Editor Lane protested last week that Formula 14 W was never intended as a rigid rule, just a warning against windy writing. Said he: "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth light."

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