Can We “Snowfall” This?

Abstract

The New York Times’ 2012 publication of John Branch’s “Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek” reinvented the template for digital longform articles designed for the tablet and inspired other media outlets to create similar products. This essay uses three case studies—a legacy newspaper (New York Times), a sports media outlet (ESPN), and a legacy magazine (Sports Illustrated)—to illuminate how different companies use digital longform to build their brands and compete for market share in the wake of “Snow Fall.” Special attention is given to how these companies deploy “Snow Fall’s” signature elements to distinguish their brand identities in the race for the growing demographic of tablet users. As an emblem of its company’s efforts to build journalistic prestige, each work functions as a “cognitive container” in which media add-ons work to hold reader attention rather than scatter it to external Web sources. These examples suggest digital journalism represents an important development in convergence culture and illustrate this emergent form’s industrial, institutional, and cultural uses.