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A comment on Writing tools I learned from The Economist.

Re:Writing tools I learned from The Economist by jackconsidine on Monday April 05, 2021 @12:43PM (#26701308)
I'd add one thing to this post: The Economist reliably lists counterpoints to its articles. It has a nuanced feel, rare for a news source. The weekly cycle also helps as sensationalized nonsense doesn't make the cut.

A trick someone told me was to read the sections in reverse (Obit, Books / Arts, Science etc); the writing quality is best towards the end!

PS this post reads a lot like the Johnson column on language, writing etc.

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Re:Writing tools I learned from The Economist by BitLit on Monday April 05, 2021 @12:57PM (#26701512)
Years ago I was making a pitch to USV... the startup I was pitching was publishing related, and out of the blue one of the partners (Brad) asked me what order I read my Economist in? I paused to think and answered that I read front to back and skipped sections if they didn’t look interesting. Then I asked him what order he read it in. He said back to front. The conversation moved on without the chance for me to ask why. Maybe the reason was writing quality.
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Re:Writing tools I learned from The Economist by pram on Monday April 05, 2021 @01:27PM (#26701876)
The front part (the 'leaders') are opinion pieces. The international sections are usually more straight reporting on events.
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Re:Writing tools I learned from The Economist by anthuswilliams on Monday April 05, 2021 @10:16PM (#26707259)
The leaders are the only part of the magazine I skip these days.
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Re:Writing tools I learned from The Economist by onebike on Monday April 05, 2021 @01:20PM (#26701786)
Yeah, the obituaries are so well written. The recent one they wrote about Chick Corea made a great point about his influence while being extremely personal and delicate. Really made me want to explore more of his music.
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Re:Writing tools I learned from The Economist by cranekam on Monday April 05, 2021 @01:36PM (#26701980)
I think the obits are all written by one person, Ann Wroe. I heard a really good interview with her a few years ago but I can't find it now. https://medium.economist.com/the-art-of-writing-an-obituary-... is reasonably interesting.
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Re:Writing tools I learned from The Economist by halhod on Monday April 05, 2021 @02:14PM (#26702476)
almost all are written by Ann, who is brilliant. the odd one is written by a subject matter expert, or by someone for whom the subject was a source

this one is a particularly good example, that HN may enjoy https://www.economist.com/obituary/2019/02/21/obituary-the-m...

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Re:Writing tools I learned from The Economist by astrange on Tuesday April 06, 2021 @04:09AM (#26709333)
Dennis Ritchie got 1.5 articles and John McCarthy 0.5, although it's a bit painful to read the Economist house style discussing programming languages.

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2011/10/20/printfgoodbye-d...

https://www.economist.com/obituary/2011/11/05/dennis-ritchie...

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Re:Writing tools I learned from The Economist by brox on Tuesday April 06, 2021 @04:49AM (#26709591)
She was interviewed on February 4th 2021 as part of their digital events series ("An audience with Ann Wroe, obituaries editor"). Worth a listen: https://economist-subsevents.zoom.us/rec/play/5b6CntzRCPHSJz...
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Re:Writing tools I learned from The Economist by tclancy on Monday April 05, 2021 @06:43PM (#26705595)
She is the one can’t-miss part of the magazine.
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