Journalists are in a unique position when it comes to audience. We are expected to write to everyone. Anyone who can speak the language in which articles are written is supposed to be able to read and understand them. Of course, this is an impossible goal to achieve, so we are left striving continuously to reach it and coming as close as we can.

This results in journalists writing at about a 10th grade reading level most of the time so that those with less intelligence or reading ability can also understand the content. Though it depends on the publication, editors at many newspapers will cut out complicated words and opt for short, simple sentences with easy-to-understand words.

The idea when writing an article is to make sure the reader does not have to stop and think for a moment while reading. Flow is extremely important; we have to make sure each idea flows to the next one flawlessly so that the reader does not have to stretch.

Writing to everyone can be a pain sometimes.