'The salvation of newspapers'

Just above this post is the lead graf of 'Attacked by a grizzly' by Tom Curwen. Want to keep reading? Yeah, me too.

That's one reason we wanted to focus on narrative storytelling this year. Tom Curwen of the L.A. Times, who wrote the story, echoes something we talked about when we kicked off the Year of Storytelling -- that people love to read these stories, and, when the stories are well done, people will come back to the newspaper (or web site) to keep reading.

In comments to the Neiman narrative web site, Curwen said the reaction to this story "convinces me that the salvation of newspapers lies in narratives." Online, he wrote, the package got more than 533,000 hits. Of the nearly 400 e-mails he received, the overwhelming majority praised the story.

One said: "I never buy papers during the week, but your piece in Sunday's edition compelled me to buy Monday's paper to read the rest of Johan and Jenna's story."

Another said: "Please tell your editors that my entire household as well as half of all the passengers waiting at gate number 24 at the Oakland Airport yesterday were enraptured by the story, not just because of the drama but also for its spirit and sensitivity."