Yet their presence has come to define what 'real' newspapers are all about. Everybody's doing it, of course. When you offer 15 per cent more chocolate in a bar, or 30 per cent more soap powder to the jumbo pack, that is 'more' in the usual sense. The 'more' of newspapers, however, is different. That meant that typical 37-minute scanners might 'read through only eight or nine of the 135 major articles presented each day'.
British newspapers have the same research methods and uncannily similar findings.
The fascinating fact is that there really isn't any room. More' to read doesn't mean that 'more' is read. Perhaps because conventional logic doesn't apply. The Guardian's fatter package seems to be selling resiliently. The Independent claims to have turned things round since it swelled front and back.