why some reputable news organization repeat the same fact in a news article?

[jimmy d]

Surprisingly, no one has yet hit the nail on the head here: FAKE NEWS!!!

[MrNoBody]

Racer X wrote:
because they are lazy, poorly proof-read, and possibly padding the word count?

I am continually astounded by the errors that would easily be caught if the "writer" would simply use spellcheck and grammar check from even something as old as Word 97/98.

I agree.

reputable news organization
You mean the ones that claim to have anonymous sources "highly placed in xyz agency/department?
:emoticon-tv-015:

[Bernie]

Copy
Cut
Paste

and never

ever

Retract or correct.

If it is Facebook true it is good to go.

Journalism is for others.

[Acer]

RAMd®d wrote:
why some reputable news organization repeat the same fact in a news article?

The first mention is part of an overall summary.

The second mention is a more specific mentioning their source and the who told who.

Hardly an egregious error.

Maybe it could have been written better; maybe there was no need to.

This. A "proper" news article has a succinct headline, followed by a summary of the major points in the first paragraph, then fleshed-out details in the body. The body generally flows from the most relevant details and context at the beginning to the background details, supporting quotes and side-stories as you progress toward the end. News services can theoretically cut the story at any point to fit the space available and it will still make sense.

Sounds old-school, but you'll see this pattern particularly in the big news services like AP and Reuters.

[Mike Johnson]

We are awash in poorly written, poorly edited news articles and blog entries. The example you give, though, is neither. It’s classic, old school newspaper writing.

The basic format for a news story is, all the important points in the first couple paragraphs, then an explanation of the assorted points, typically following a pattern like:

The reporter interjected one-sentence paragraphs of analysis between quotations from the people interviewed.

“It’s not really reporting news if nobody’s actually quoted,” said the reporter. “But if there’s no analysis it’s merely an interview transcript.”

Careful selection and arrangement of the quotations can lead a reader along a straight line through a complicated story.

“I might spend three months interviewing 30 people, and finding a through-line for the story is the trickiest part.”

Even after the reporter has written the article, her editor is likely to make changes to the basic structure of the story, often reorganizing the points, and sometimes deleting entire passages.

“Because we’re no longer constrained by column-inches in print, we’re not forced to cut nearly as much as we used to. But we do still trim pieces for clarity,” said one editor, reached at her cardboard home under a bridge in suburban Los Angeles.

A properly written newspaper article is set up so that you can read the first paragraph or two to learn just the basic details, the who what when and where. The why and how come next. Then, as you read further, you get deeper into the weeds. Reading the entire article will give you a better picture, but all the important stuff is up at the top of the article. A real journalist will never ever bury the lede.

Imagine being an editor laying out the front page news section for tomorrow’s morning paper, circa 1985. You have 18 articles. They’re all printed in long strips about 2” wide, and range in length from 4” to 25”. You have a total of 160 column inches of printed material but only space for about 100 column inches. You look over the articles and literally take scissors and cut the bottoms off most of the articles. You look them over and see if your trims require you to make further excisions, or perhaps rearrange things.

Or hey, imagine you’re a journalist. You’re supposed to turn in twelve column inches on some stadium financing shenanigans. But for all you know your article will be cut to three inches to make room for a sexier story. So you turn in an article that can be cut at any point after the first quotation.