Journo in context 2
this week we look at investigative journalism. Paige Williams in her article looks at the issue of poverty in Atlanta. Nick McKenzie on the other hand paints a picture of a classic scenario of the rich fighting to get richer.
So, how were these articles developed and where did the information come from. Personally I have the sense that there is not a great deal to be learned from the McKenzie article, there is not a great deal of evidence of what the sources were for the article. One can assume that he went to Fitzgibbon’s father, as he is quoted in the article, other than that though perhaps he used FOI laws to gather information from the ministers office and the bank. I have trouble seeing the point of these kind of articles, they are what might be referred to as a post script. ‘Fitzgibbon and Lui fucked up and they are proud of it, now lets go after them a few years later’… I would much rather be working on stories that are able to work at stopping these kind of things from happening not reflect on the screw up down the track.
Williams writes a much more engaging article that personalizes the fate of these poor (excuse the pun) people. The inclusion of the personal plight and then over all general success of the employee at the food co op is just one example of Williams showing the reader just how tough this situation is.
Chris Masters a well respected former ABC investigative journalist said recently in a lecture that he believed that one of the biggest lessons you can learn in this field is that going to the top for a source is not always the best way to create a great story. I agree with him on this argument, you are much more likely to get a great story by talking to those who are likely to have been effected by the issue than you are to get a good story from those who think they can fix it. Williams, I would suggest, has, to some extent used this strategy in this story. Although the story contains quotes from Sensis records the thing that makes this story is the use of real people who have something to say.
