A Journalist Reflects...

Today CNN posted an article on their website, "In Rural Alaska villages, Families Struggle to Survive." It was the top story under US News.  The article started out with describing how little resources residents in rural Alaska have to survive.  Then, the author focuses on the Strongheart family.  She describes the changes they have had to make to save money. She tells the reader that the family used to take two snow mobiles to the grocery store to be safe, but since the economy is in a recession they are forced to only take one to save on fuel costs.  She also said that the family buys only enough groceries to put on the snow mobile, but the cost for all of it was over $400 dollars. The author ends the article by going broad again, and talking about what Alaska is doing to help families in need.  As a journalist, I thought it was great that the author immediately jumped into her central character, the Strongheart family.  I also liked how she was able to broaden the focus back into how Alaska plans to help the families, even though they haven't declared emergency yet.  The bulk of the story focuses on the Strongheart family which humanizes this article and makes the reader feel for the family. Not only does the article grab the readers emotions, it gives hard facts like Alaska plans to give residents $1,200 dollar energy rebate checks.  I am tired of reading articles all about the economy, but since it is in a recession that is what's making news.  I thought that this would be another bad economy, poor people piece of journalism; however, it surprised me and I think it is because of the way the author focused on the central characters in this article.