Journalistic article consists of headline (with possible subhead and kicker) and at least one paragraph. Most of the journalistic genres have a special paragraph, called the lead, followed by other paragraphs (one or more). Foreign literature gives detailed instructions on how to write the lead and following paragraphs and how long they should be. Authors also differ between the instructions for print and online media. Meanwhile Slovenian literature is not as detailed: it gives only detailed instructions of genres without the specific instructions on how to write them, especially not on how to write the paragraphs. The aim of this master thesis was – with the help of quantitative analysis of Slovenian and foreign online and newspaper articles (newspaper Dnevnik and online media MMC and BBC) – to identify the length of the latter: length of leads and paragraphs with the number of words and number of paragraphs in different genres. Additionally, with two in-depth interviews (editor of MMC Ksenja Tratnik and journalist Ervin Hladnik Milharčič), we received information on when the journalists decide to start a new paragraph and how is writing of leads and paragraphs defined in their editorial departments. We found out that the lead is the shortest paragraph in both Slovenian media, but not in BBC, and that journalists write a new paragraph when they want to create a certain rhythm of reading the article and not only when they want to point out the newness in happening or a new speaker.
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