Pulled Quotes

Should a judge be able to force a journalist to burn his source?

A judge has ruled that Toni Locy must pay up to $5,000 per day until she discloses the source(s) that named former Army scientist Steven Hatfill “as a possible suspect in the 2001 anthrax attacks.”

Locy is a writer for USA TODAY being held in contempt of court for refusal to disclose her source. In response, The Reporter’s Committee for Freedom of the Press is filing an amicus curiae brief along with “18 news organizations and 14 professional and trade organizations.”

Monday USA TODAY reported that “Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, endorsed a federal law Monday to help reporters protect confidential sources, but he did so with reservations.”

Rightfully so, because I don’t think any party with power– whether it be the government or the press– should have power that cannot be accounted for. My sentiments echo that of McCain’s when he said to a group of newspaper execs saying, “he trusts that ‘you will not do more harm than good, whether it comes to the security of the nation or the reputation of good people.’”

A recent USA Today article called “Caring Awards honorees push the limits of reaching out” left me feeling not only warm and fuzzy but, more importantly, satisfied with the information I got in the amount of time I spent.

The article was one of the shortest I have read in USA Today while also being one of the most effective. The lead of the article is what really set the story apart for me. The lead tells readers exactly what happened, who it happened to, why it happened to them and where it happened all the while including some sense of personality with an anecdote at the very beginning. Following the great lead was a short background section that provided readers with important details about the actual organization sponsoring the awards, how winners are selected and even a tidbit about previous honorees.

The article was broken into two sections, a beginning with background information about the awards and a middle/ending with a short blurb about each of this years 10 honorees. This organization system worked well for the article because it provided a consistent flow that made the information easy to soak up. Each honoree was featured, organized from the oldest to the youngest, with a short paragraph about the accomplishments he or she has made.

This article, with its effective lead, flawless organization and cheesy yet appropriate quotes, is one that I will surely call upon again in the future as a prime example of successful journalism. (As a side note, I did have one question when I finished reading: why are the “young people’s” ages included and the “adults” ages are not?)

An article in USA Today called “Another sweeping special when “Planet” freezes over” is a good example of journalism that is effective yet forced at the same time. The article is very short but despite that still packs quite a punch of information, maybe too much in fact. 

The article focuses on a new series inspired by the successes of Blue Planet and Planet Earth. The new show, Frozen Planet, is an 8 hour event exploring the icy reaches of the North and South poles. Because it is not set to air in the UK until fall 2011 and in the US until spring 2012, the author of the article decided not to divulge too many actual details about the show (or maybe he couldn’t that many.)

 Rather, this article served to start a buzz about the show. And the big buzz the author was trying to create is about the emotional and physical struggles the crew is experiencing over the two years it will take to film the show. By including information about how dangerous and treacherous the job will be the author is using an emotional appeal to try and sell the show to potential viewers. Another use of heavy emotional appeals comes when the author puts a “green” spin of the show and the article. Global warming is a very hot (excuse my pun) topic right now that many people are emotionally connected to. By tapping into such issues the article gains an extra sense of urgency and relevance, making both the show and the article seem more prevalent than they may actually be.

After the emotional appeals the author switches gears and includes technical information about the type of equipment and filming techniques used to make the show possible. The technical part is then followed background information about the successes of similar shows in the past. By including such a wide array of information about the subject the author makes the article seem jumbled. The show itself is still very far off and this article is one of the first covering the subject. Because of that the article seems like a random array of any facts the reporter could get his hands on.

Although the article is effective in creating an initial stir about Discovery’s new endeavor, the lack of organization and direction in the writing makes me think it is just too soon to even introduce the project that is still 4 years away.

According to USAToday, a construction worker gone awry was foiled in his attempts to curse the new Yankees stadium when the Boston Red Sox jersey he had planted under two feet of concrete was removed.  This article was written by an unnamed Associated Press writer, and is both a good and a bad piece.  As a source of entertainment, this piece is good for a chuckle.  But as a model for inverted pyramid style, this piece loses its humor and becomes just plain sad. 

The lede is effective, and summarizes (in very, very basic terms) the whole point of the article.  The next few paragraphs are logical and follow a recognizable progression, moving from the general to the specific in a fairly decent way.  Unfortunately, it all goes downhill from there.  The second half of the article switches into a chronological story, which fails not only to place the more important facts higher, but it also fails to even mention some pretty heavy details. 

For instance, the author states that the man who planted the jersey might be facing criminal charges.  Criminal charges….?  For what?  I didn’t realize there was a law against playing upon a bunch of Yanks’ superstitions. 

Also, the article mentions that the jersey is a David Ortiz jersey, Number 34.  Was it an authentic jersey worn by Ortiz, or just a knock-off that the construction guy bought? 

This article definitely is not stellar, though like I mentioned earlier, it is entertaining.  After all, this article signifies that the long-standing rivalry between the two teams is no longer limited to just the diamond; apparently, it can extend into the concrete of the stadium, as well.

In light of today being the one-year anniversary of the Virginia Tech tragedy, I am going to focus my post on a recent article in USA Today that tells the stories of several victims and survivors who are finding ways to channel their grief into advocacy and art. 

Donna Leinwand’s piece utilizes a narrative lead, telling the tale of Michael Bishop’s struggle to cope with his son’s death in the massacre that took place last year.  Leinward plays on natural assumptions that the victim was actually a student, though she reveals a few paragraphs later that Bishop’s son, Jamie, was actually a 35-year-old professor.  At first I didn’t like the delayed-information approach that Leinwand took, but now I can see where the sudden shock of being corrected in my mis-assumption actually kept me interested.  As is customary to features, several of Leinwand’s word choices- “slaying,” “budding,” “slaughter”- are much more editorialized than would be expected in a strict inverted pyramid piece.

Another standout feature of this piece is its length.  Ordinarily, I would have not read the entire piece, but the various stories were interesting and played to my emotions (which, I’ll just say right now, isn’t all that hard to do).  Nonetheless, I think that this piece works despite its length because people are still interested in this tragedy.  Thus, I think that Leinwand really worked off of the timeliness of this piece’s subject matter and created an effective piece of journalism that will be appreciated by mourners and interested citizens alike.