THE POWER OF THE JUMP: “The Power of the Jump” will be a semi-regular feature on this site. The “jump” is the place in a newspaper story where the story moves from page A1 to, say, page A23. Numerous studies show that the overwhelming majority of readers do not bother to follow the story past the jump line. Although you don’t see it when you read newpapers on the internet, most people read newpapers in the print form — and savvy editors use the power of the jump to their advantage. The Los Angeles Dog Trainer in particular habitually buries inconvenient facts on the back pages — a practice Dog Trainer editors have raised to an art form.

Today’s Dog Trainer has a nice example. The headline of this fair and balanced story reads: Insurer Uses Its Muscle on 2 Bills. The sub-head: “Measures opposed by activists and regulators advance. Firm has been a big campaign donor.” And the first sentence: “A Los Angeles insurance company that has contributed millions of dollars to California politicians over the years is trying to use its influence with lawmakers to overturn regulatory and court decisions that threaten its financial interests.”

So that’s the background: clearly, the reporter and editors see this as a story about the corrupting influence of campaign contributions. Who is it that’s accepting these contributions?? Well, the article contains a very interesting quote from an activist, who asked: “Why are we here doing this? . . .Is this bill really about good policy or is this bill about helping an insurance company that has given $1 million to the Democratic Party since 2001?” (Emphasis mine.)

By now you have no doubt guessed that this quote, from an activist who primarily accuses Democrats of being corrupted by large donations, comes after the jump. The actual jump comes just before the previous paragraph, just before the word “room.” Interesting, eh?

By the way, everybody at the newspapers is acutely aware of this syndrome. I recently spoke to a Dog Trainer reporter and expressed my concern that the story he was writing would bury the relevant facts on the back pages. I told him that it was my impression that most readers do not follow stories past the jump. He forthrightly replied: “That’s what all the studies show.”

Don’t tell me that reporters and editors with an agenda don’t try to take advantage of this fact.