Category: What Works

What Works: The New Orleans Times-Picayune

John Besh restaurants fostered culture of sexual harassment, 25 women say

Before reading this article, I had no idea who John Besh was. I also have never worked in a restaurant, so I was unaware of the “bro-culture” fostered in restaurant work. I have worked retail, and know first-hand that employees can be gross to one another, but I wasn’t at all prepared for the allegations this article proposed. Journalistically, what I thought worked the best in the article was the use of sub-heads. This story is so deep that it necessitates being broken down for the sake of comprehension. I thought the piece did a good job of pointing out several factors that contributed to the issue such as the company not having an HR department. It also did journalism’s civic duty, to give voice to the voiceless. In so many of these women’s cases, they felt they couldn’t speak up. Reporting this story gave them a chance to speak out and, in at least five cases, feel comfortable doing so by disclosing their identity. This article also sought the voices of those accused, and I truly feel like every moving part in this issue was sourced and given a chance to speak. However, just because the article gave Besh a voice, that doesn’t mean that it downplayed what he, and the environment he fostered, did. The voices in this story speak for themselves and the writer was able to give accurate context and tie together the moving parts.

What Works: Politics

As Warren and Sanders Jockey for Support, One Takes a Road More Traveled

This article carefully juxtaposes Warren and Sanders. The article begins with doing this cut-and-dry, contrasting each individual’s strategy in politics. Throughout the article, the writer uses this narrative to transition into different topics besides how Sanders and Warren are different. This type of compare-and-contrast structure is useful because the writer is able to show the reader just how their strategies are different and the impact this might have by relating them to one another, which is more easily understood that just providing the reader with a wealth of information that they have nothing to compare it to. Writing in this format makes the impact of situations seem real, and their consequences more digestible.

Democrats, Seeking to Disavow Weinstein , Plan to Give His Donations to Charity

In this article, The New York Times traced how democratic leaders responded the the Weinstein discovery.  It makes sense that the publication that broke the story also publishes follow ups regarding the collateral damage. I thought that this article was an interesting way to approach the new perception of Weinstein. Instead of getting a bunch of interviews with people saying how disgusted they are by him, which would’ve been valid. they took it one step further and showed how it ties into politics, and what those leaders are doing to rectify an issue they seemingly had no idea about.

Not on the Ballot, but Dominating the Virginia Governor’s Race: Trump

To be honest, this article was the hardest for me to digest. Admittedly, this is because I don’t follow politics closely and was unaware of some of the content of the article. Aside from feeling like this article was over my head, I thought that the way the writer showed Trump and his rhetoric effects other Republican races across the country. It makes sense why this would be especially troubling in the only Southern state he lost. It’s journalism’s job to inform the people on topics they wouldn’t know about others, including the long-standing consequences of big decisions, such as a presidential election. This article also did a good job of connecting different events, and making a road map of how one action led to another.

What Works: Q&As

In many of these Q&A interviews there was some immediate reason to interview a subject about a much wider scope of topics than just what was happening in the world. For example, in the NPR interview with Jay-Z, he was the first rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame the night before the broadcast. However, this interview was much more extensive than just about his induction. The interview traced back his entire life, starting at about 10.

In terms of the writing, the questions never wasted the subject’s time. It was never a question of “what do you do?” It was apparent that the interviewer had done a lot of research about the subject matter of each topic. It wasn’t “tell me about X thing.” Then interviewer would present the obvious, and situate the question in a social, cultural, emotional context that would illicit a deeper response from the interviewee.

The questions, while all well-written and researched, occurred in a natural flow. This means that the “softer” questions were at the top. For example, in the interview with the mayor of Las Vegas, the first question had to do with the depleting housing and family market in Nevada, which is a numbers question. It’s not inherently emotional or provocative. But later on in the interview the interviewer asks him about prostitution. Another interviewing technique that was present in all the stories, but especially in the Vegas story, was the interviewer’s ability to follow up with a statement regarding the answer that sometimes was a disagreement. “I don’t think you realize the tremendous toll that prostitution takes on women.” The interviewer was not always beating around the bush, or making their subject the God of the interview. The follow ups were thought provoking and meaningful. Not just “Oh, OK.”

What Works: Hurricane Harvey’s Overlooked Victims

HURRICANE HARVEY’S OVERLOOKED VICTIMS

I came across “Hurricane Harvey’s Overlooked Victims” on The New Yorker while browsing the culture section of the site. I frequent the culture section of most publications because those kinds of stories: service, social trends, etc., are the most interesting to me. I have been aware of the horror and damage that Harvey has had on Houston and surrounding communities, but I hadn’t read/seen any story that really, clearly, illustrated this in a gut-wrenching way.

This article did that. I think this was, in part, because a photographer from The New Yorker went to the disaster areas and took photographs, and photos always add to a story- especially when the story is about human interest. It also wasn’t just pictures of the devastation, but photos of those affected such as a a business owner without flood insurance.

The article also used great quotes with a lot of emotion that told a story. Another man, searching for tools in his truck, carried a machete, to protect himself from creatures in the murky waters: “Snakes, alligators, and whatever else is in there,” he said.

On the flip side of the article using great quotes, one aspect of the storytelling that I felt was lacking was that a few of the sources quoted were not named expect by a pronoun. I would assume this was a choice made on behalf of the privacy of those affected because I don’t see a writer for a publication like The New Yorker just plain not asking a source for their name.

Overall, I thought this article did a good job illustrating some of the raw struggles of the victim’s through eloquent writing and tasteful photos. The photos were also all in black and white, which I though added to the feeling the article was meant to evoke. Which wasn’t hopeful, but defeated.

What Works: DACA’s repeal is nothing new for American education policy

DACA’s repeal is nothing new for American education policy

I came across this article on the University of Maryland’s student newspaper site The Diamondback. I found it by typing the keyword “education” in to the Google news search tab. Alas, many articles about the DACA controversy resulted. Being a generally non-political person, I was not familiar with DACA, so I clicked on this article to learn. I think most of the reason I don’t like to read about politics or policy is because the writing can be, for lack of a better word, uninteresting.

However, this article, written by a sophomore journalism student at Univ, of Maryland, handled talking about this issue differently. To start, her headline was interesting “DACA’s repeal is nothing new…” this made me think twice because with the way it is being portrayed in the media, it seemed pretty earth-shattering. While this is a column piece, and the writer’s opinions are clearly stated and solely supported, she did a good job of illustrating this issue through history. Her article really backed up her headline, and the way she set up a timeline of issues similar to DACA made understanding what DACA is about, and what repealing it would mean a digestible topic.

Knowing that this was a column piece, I really wasn’t bothered by the writer expressing her explicit views on the issue. I do think, however, that she was a bit hasty in how she worded them, though. “America has restricted select minority groups from attaining an education throughout history. If anything, that should stun us. We cannot call the United States the land of opportunity when we lack opportunity where it is needed most: education.” I would venture to say that given my limited knowledge of this issue, I agree with her statement. However, I think when writing for a publication, even viewpoints about your most dear and sensitive issues should be approached with grace and respectability.

What Works: Dog Owners Are Freaking Out About Montreal’s Pit Bull Ban

HEADLINE: Dog Owners Are Freaking Out About Montreal’s Pit Bull Ban

I came across Frederick Blichert’s “Dog Owners Are Freaking Out About Montreal’s Pit Bull Ban” on VICE. As a young news consumer, I regularly consume my news from this outlet. I initially chose this article because I am a passionate dog owner and have followed previous pit bull bans and their effects on dog owners.

What I liked about this story is that it read like a hard news lede “Nearly a year after Montreal’s city council voted to ban pit bulls, the decision is no less controversial and is causing a new wave of havoc and stress, according to dog owners VICE spoke to” but used strong adjectives such as “havoc” to pull the reader in to the severity and complexity of the issue that is later mentioned.

The article only spoke to a few pit bull owners, even though this ban affects more than 500 people. However, the sources that they did speak to were full of emotion and made the problem seem real and close to home, even though this particular ban is in Montreal.

Another aspect of this article that I thought added to its overall quality was the use of photographs. For almost every dog mentioned, there was a photo of said dog attached. Being able to put a face to an issue is especially effective in any kind of “hot topic” issue reporting. While the pit bull ban is not near as tragic or large-scale as Hurricane Harvey, the same principle of being able to see the people being affected versus just hearing about it still applies.

For all of the elements of this article that work, there was one area that stuck out to me as lacking. That element was the actual explanation of the ban. While I think the article made a real attempt to explain the technical aspects of the ban, I still found it confusing. I found that the politics were muddled by inserting direct quotes about the ban’s rules, instead of just paraphrasing it in a way that a complete outsider could understand.

What Works: We Need to Talk About Our Generation’s Xanax Problem

We Need to Talk About Our Generation’s Xanax Problem

In James Nolan’s We Need to Talk About Our Generation’s Xanax Problem, posted on Vice, he illustrates the recent and rising problem of benzodiazepines addiction by talking to former addicts. Being a nontraditional news consumer, I regularly consume my news through Vice because of their ability to write in an engaging and relatable style.

I first clicked on this article because it had a catchy headline, “We need to talk about our generation’s Xanax problem.” The headline caught my attention by being demanding and somewhat taboo. I believe that being engaging in a racy way is important, especially when trying to reach younger news consumers.

While some news stories on substance abuse can be dreary, dry statistics on abuse and number of deaths, this story took it one step further. In this article, Nolan actually interviewed former addicts. His interview with two addicts made the story more human because those individuals told their stories, not the reporter.

However, what the reporter did do to complement their stories was integrate himself into the “darknet scene” where benzodiazepines are bought in bulk. He explains how and why the site works, and displays a deeper understanding than just surface level. It is clear that he has done his research when he describes the overwhelming panic this online community experienced with the sudden disappearance of “HulkedBenzoBoss”, a large-scale dealer who ran the site’s distribution. The reader gets the feeling that he follows this community and its trends.

While this story did include the important and sobering statistics about benzodiazepines, specifically Xanax, abuse, it also illustrated these facts with color. In the nutgraph, he states that “since 2000, a 500 percent increase in overdose death rate.” He subsequently shows exampled of this in popular culture naming celebrities who have died benzo related deaths, and exploring the online Reddit and darknet scenes that feed into the rise.

One thing I would add to this article would be more multimedia. My favorite aspect of journalism is copy, however I don’t think this article is long enough to stand alone with just a leading image of hands holding Xanax and an awkwardly placed video in the middle titled “How to Use Ecstasy as Safely as Possible.” It wasn’t clear to me why ecstasy was plopped in the middle of this article, or if the video was supposed to be facetious or not. This article was lacking visuals, and I would’ve liked to see the sites referred to either linked or displayed.