We see dead people

Newspapers Get a Jump on Death With Pre-Written Obits

Editor and Publisher ("America's oldest journal covering the newspaper industry") offers some insights as to how and why obituaries are occupying so much newspaper space (and public interest).

From the piece:

Major papers continue to stockpile advance obits more than ever, while also devoting more writers to the dedications. Growing interest by readers in biographical pieces, along with an increased effort to present them more as stories than public notices, also adds to the renewed effort to stay one step ahead of death.

"It has become more popular in the paper," says Jon Thurber, who for seven years has been executive editor/obituaries for the Los Angeles Times. Even Hollywood has taken note, casting Jennifer Aniston as an obituary writer in Rumor Has It, a new film in which she laments a career "that is going absolutely nowhere."

Thurber has nearly doubled his supply of advance obits to some 400 during his time at the helm, while also increasing his staff to five writers from two. Much the same is true at the New York Times, where Obituaries Editor Charles Strum boasts 1,200 pre-written stories (about 150 more than when he began five years ago) and a staff of five writers.

A 26-year Times veteran, Strum does not rely solely on his staff, noting that a handful of other current and former Times writers contribute now and then. "I use other staffers from all over to write advances," he says, citing reporter Judith Miller, who wrote Yasser Arafat's obituary several years before his 2004 death, as one example. "It is very hard to find time to write 2,000 words about someone," he explains, "and these are people who take an interest in a certain obit, and former Times writers who want to stay active."

Editors agree there's no doubt that the obituary section has assumed greater notice by many readers. Thurber, who says he did not even have a dedicated space for obits until 1998, claims they are seen more as vehicles for good writing and storytelling than ever before. "We take the view that they are news stories rather than encyclopedic reviews," he says. "A recognition that people of historic note are interesting."