Below is Michael Kinsley today on the pre-Internet 20th century fluff still typical in old school journalism news stories. Kinsley highlights such stories’ archaic inclination:
. . . to accommodate readers who have just emerged from a coma or a coal mine. Who needs to be told that reforming health care (three words) involves “a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s health care system” (nine words)? Who needs to be reminded that Hillary Clinton tried this in her husband’s administration without success? Anybody who doesn’t know these things already is unlikely to care. (Is, in fact, unlikely to be reading the article.)
Prometheus Unbound 