I did a some work with victorian newspapers during my masters, from about 1860 through to about 1895, and articles could vary a lot. I've not read the book but I'm familiar with the story and have read a few Victorian novels.

Depending on the newspaper some news reports could be like reading a story, with a lot of emotive descriptions. One example that comes to mind is violent crimes, such as a gun battle between police transporting prisoners in Manchester and the prisoners friends attempting to free them, which gave a lot of space to exciting descriptions of the action. (I can find out the exact event if needed, but I would have to find my masters dissertation and look through to find it)

Some were very short and to the point giving only a few lines to the description of an event, especially things happening in far off places.

Some actual stories were published in newspapers. I believe the sherlock Holmes stories were originally published in serial form in newspapers for example.