In the field of newspaper writing, a long-held rule of thumb has become widely misunderstood: “Write for the reader with a sixth grade education.” I first encountered that advisory back in the late 1980s, when I’d begun writing for the Recorder as a correspondent and, a little later, a columnist.
But that advisory hails from much longer ago, a time in educational history when “a sixth grade education” meant that the reader was capable of reading, comprehending, and writing critically about a classic American novel (and, further, was both able and inclined to use a dictionary if need be.)
In other words, the intended original message to news writers was that they should always write “for,” not “down to,” the reader.
Ann Reed
Orange