Thursday, March 5, 2009

What does hunger look like? Researcher enlists mothers to photograph it- Pauline Arrillaga

This article is a feature piece about poverty and hunger in America. This piece begins with a feature lead. It is a blind identification lead that does a good job of enticing the reader to keep on reading. The article continues on to describe the research of poverty by Mariana Chilton a mother, wife and Harvard graduate.

Personal descriptions of those in poverty here in the United States paint vivid pictures in the minds of the readers while developing an emotive appeal. The coverage in this article goes much deeper than personal experiences from Chilton and those in poverty she encounters. The article broadens to describing and defining hunger in general.

Sources in this article include impoverished individuals who Chilton encountered in her studies, statistics of those in America struggling with hunger, and Obama’s stimulus package details.

After describing political and social aspects of hunger in general, the article cuts back to the story of Chilton. This long break and return to the feature story is a little confusing. But it is then that the article gets to the main story. Details about Chilton’s “Witnesses to Hunger” program are revealed. She gave cameras and transportation costs to the poor mothers she had met over the years to tell their story through photographs.

The article overall was intriguing and well balanced with emotional and intellectual aspects. It was well rounded with both evidence of poverty and solutions that the government is attempting to provide.

All of the individual running stories throughout the article about different impoverished individuals became a little overwhelming. A lot of information and details were included that were helpful, but only if they were kept straight.

1 comment:

  1. I really liked your choice of article. This is more of the kind of news I like to read. The story is about an important issue but it is told with the use of narratives about real people (I did agree that there were a lot of people to keep straight). The author skillfully switches between statistics and stories and it kept me entertained for the bulk of a pretty long article. I don't have much to add to your blog about the style of this piece. I really enjoyed the topic and found it interesting that, like every other story I've read recently, Obama and the economy both came up at least once. I can only hope that my feature turns out as entertaining as this one...

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