[weinzierl]

Amateur writers often mix up journalistic with literary writing. Both has its place but when people can't make up their mind they end up producing a chimera. Their writing doesn't follow an inverted triangle principle while at the same time it fails to build an arc of tension. The lede is buried somewhere in the middle.

Pervasive SEO advice is also to blame. "Google loves long-form" is the common mantra. Just add a personal anecdote at the beginning to reach the target word count.

[Cthulhu_]

I don't blame them on the one hand, because truly neutral and impersonal journalism (think Reuters) look soul-destroying to write - if you're the creative kind. But people working for real news agencies (not the ones dependent on fluff) have to stick to facts and impersonal, unopinionated stories.