Every once in a while, you read a very "feel good" article. This was definitely one of those. It told the story of a boy with disabilities who was going to have a bar mitzvah. The article did a very good job of showing that people with disabilites are just as important as everyone else. I really liked this story.
I felt the lead was effective. When many parents have a child with disabilites, it's so easy to focus on what their child cannot do. It's important to realize that their child is smart and special and can do so much. I felt that was the overall message of the article, and it came out very clearly.
By talking to the parents, the reporter had real insight into the family. It made the story personal, and it made the readers care. It also showed everything that Jarrett can do. He can communicate; he can love. Those are two very important things that could just be overlooked because maybe Jarrett can't multiply or divide numbers.
There did seem to be editorializing and a lack of attribution, but this was the type of article where that was okay. If absolutely everything was attributed, it would have taken away from the intimate, story-like quality of the article.
The story had an emotional ending, which was very sweet. It showed that while this story wasn't exactly news-breaking, it was important all the same. It was important because it concerned real people, dealing with real problems. The media always puts so much focus on all the huge problems of the world today. Sometimes those problems seem so distant, which makes the media appear detached from the actual community. This story was about the little things that affect people's lives so much more.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/nyregion/long-island/26Rparent.html
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4 comments:
Wow. I really liked this article. There are people in this world who have disabilities, but our world is so focused on beauty that no one tells their stories. It was great that this man found this story and wrote it.
There seemed to be some editorializing though. In one paragraph he starts off with, "Living in the now, he doesn't hold grudges." How does the author know this? How do the parents even know this? This boy cannot talk, so therefore they can only guess at what his gestures mean. We really don't know if this is how this thirteen-year-old really feels or not.
I like that they included the parents as the prime sources, but I wish they had included other speakers as well. As we all know, parents can be a little bias about their children and can exaggerate. I'm not saying that these parents did, but it would have been nice to get other people to talk about Jarrett.
Winerip included the medical information that was important to the article, without being overwhelming for the audience.
Overall, I really liked this article, and if I wasn't in Jour200 and knew what to be looking for, I would have just read the article and said it was a great piece.
Mary Beth,
Doom and gloom reporting certainly predominates, which is why pieces like this are so vital to our profession. Attaching real people to an issue elevates the substance of the article and the dialog it promotes. I encourage you to never shy away from these types of stories in your own career.
Your review made me eager to read the article itself. Why was that? Obviously, the young man and his family have a compelling story. But you critiqued the writing, told me to be sure and catch the ending, talked about how more attribution might have gotten in the way of the intimacy. Then meganh commented about when lack of attribution might stumble into assumptions. I'm impressed.
I'm so glad I read this article. I'll admit it, I cried, but that's besides the point. I think you're right, Mary Beth, in noting that although some people may not deem this story as being important, that it is. There are things wrong with our world and we all know that, but it's small instances, like reading this article, where you forget about that and remember that there is some good.
Megan said best the whole where is the line drawn between not attributing for the sake of keeping the fluidity and the realm of assumption. I think you're right, this is the type of article that lends itself to that disposition, so I don't think that it affected the piece negatively.
The message was important, and the writing was done well. This was such a good article in my opinion.
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