To think the BBC's headline news story should be better written

[bloombini]

I love the BBC, but the quality of their online news has deteriorated to the point where I'm frustrated by it daily. This is just one example. Today's headline story about flytipping is rambling and repeats itself several times, so it has ended up being far longer than necessary. It reads like it was written by an inexperienced journalist and slipped out while the editor's back was turned: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-50660138

Ive noticed this too in recent months and have also felt that their site has become more “magazine-y” with articles that aren’t really news in the strictest sense. One that springs to mind was a headline like “my mum met my dad yeasts after I was born” about a young woman conceived with donor sperm.

@coffeeandpyjamas

Can I ask.. and I genuinely am asking...

What is wrong with features (the thing you call "magazine-y") on a news website?

Not everything can be covered by a short sharp news piece. For me part of the BBC News remit is to shine a light on topical areas and aspects of the world.

In a world of on-demand TV, do we really need the BBC to make "The Voice" or "Eastenders"? Or do we need it and it's huge experience and coverage to provide a window onto a vast and changing complex world?

Its*

I agree. I've noticed it too. I'm a writer and the amount of typos and errors I see now in BBC articles is shocking. It's like they haven't even been proofread, let alone edited.

@gindaddy of course. Nothing at all is wrong with publishing more magazine-y pieces but it’s something I’ve noticed with more and more prevalence in the past few months on the site & so I was just commenting that I agree with the OP that the content (and in some cases the quality) of the articles has moved away from what the website used to be and I guess would be classed as purely news by journalistic standards.

I have read and enjoyed several of the articles on the BBC News site that I would categorise as magazine-y but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t noticed the shift in the way they publish information.