America’s Best Newspaper Writing – Week 1
Chapter 5: Business Reporting and Explanatory Journalism
By Hannah Williams
Great business reporting and explanatory journalism require a journalist to learn a foreign language and delve into a different culture so that she can translate both to an audience in not only an understandable, but also compelling manner. The challenge is to grasp subject matter that is most likely beyond the capacity of the journalist and reconstruct it in a manner in which the audience is both informed and educated in a manner that appears effortless. The material may be information-dense and centered on facts and figures, but it is structured as story.
“As Cruise Lines Change Routes to Cut Fuel Costs, There are New Port City Winners and Losers” By Clarke Canfield – Minneapolis Star Tribune
Canfield describes the alteration in cruise ship routes, grabbing the reader’s attention with a compelling lead and using facts and figures meaningfully to show impact on the average reader.
“Fannie, Freddie: Feds Step In” By Peter Coy and Theo Francis – BusinessWeek
Coy and Francis describe the federal takeover of financial giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the impact that this will have on the American economy.
“U.S. Ideals Meet Reality in Yemen” By David Finkel – The Washington Post
Finkel relays the story of the U.S. Ambassador to Yemen and the challenges that she faces, relaying a complex political narrative through the experience of one official. He creatively and interestingly introduces detail and facts into the story, educating the reader without reader effort.
“An Empire Built on Bargains Remakes the Working World” By Abigail Goldman and Nancy Cleeland – Los Angeles Times
Goldman and Cleeland explore the pros and cons of Wal-Mart’s expansion, driving down prices by driving down costs. They highlight the effects the empire has on communities, employees, manufacturers, consumers and competitors.
“Gene Map Becomes a Luxury Item” By Amy Harmon – The New York Times
Harmon delves into the scientific capabilities of mapping a human genome structure, the possibilities that the technology provides and the costs associated with the practice that limit it currently to private enterprise.
A compelling lead is vital to an explanatory journalistic piece. A good lead will rope the reader in, highlighting oddities, but not giving it all away. For example, Finkel teases his readers by capturing the story in hindsight: “On the first day, which would turn out to be the best day, the one day of all 180 days when everything actually seemed possible, the president of Yemen hadn’t yet dismissively referred to an American named Robin Madrid as an old woman.” This lead intrigues the reader to find out who Madrid is, what she was trying to accomplish, how she is connected to Yemen, and what else went wrong in the 180 days. Harmon utilizes a storybook sequence that peaks interest, “On a cold day in January, Dan Stoicescu, a millionaire living in Switzerland, became the second person in the world to buy the full sequence of his own genetic code.” The lead snags the reader and entices him to keep reading what could otherwise be a dense report about genetic sequencing.
A compelling lead cannot be formulated without an understanding of the subject matter, without which the reporter loses all credibility. Rinearson says in ABNW, “One thing I learned early on as a reporter, that it’s a lot better looking stupid to your sources than looking stupid to your readers.” Rinearson appears to master the field of engineering in his “Making It Fly: Designing the 757″. Coy and Francis of BusinessWeek explain the federal take-over of two mortgage giants and its potential impact in “Fannie, Freddie: Feds Step In.” Both pieces use common English to describe complex processes, acting as translators.
Comprehensive understanding of the subject matter enables a journalist to craft a compelling narrative. Each of the articles analyzed captured an overarching narrative that was carried and/or supported by compelling characters. Finkel examines the attempt to export democracy to Yemen through Madrid’s experience. Readers learn about Madrid as a person, and thus are able to share in her struggle in Yemen. “She chews gum constantly, likes jazz, likes beer, reads Anthony Trollope and misses pork. She always introduces herself as an American.” Capturing details enables reporters to tease out that which is pertinent, while also affording them room for creativity. Harmon leads her readers through one man’s genetic purchase as a mode for exploring the process on the whole. Goldman and Cleeland formulate a narrative with Wal-Mart as the lead, accentuating the multiple facets of the story with peoples’ experiences. These writers define processes for their readers, allowing the quotes to illustrate the procedures and add flavor. Harmon allows Stoicescu to explain his purchase; “I’d rather spend my money on my genome than a Bentley or an airplane.” Canfield’s piece fails to use direct quotes as effectively, and thus loses some credibility for lack of authenticity.
As Clark and Scanlon write in ABNW, “Numbers can numb, Bill Blundell cautions writers, but here [in Gartner’s "Property Tax Exemptions"] they illuminate, surprise, provoke.” Creatively weaving figures into an article, rather than rattling them off, is a hallmark of great explanatory journalism. Canfield translates statistics into real effects for real people: “When cruise ships pull into Maine’s Bar Harbor, passengers spend an average of $105 each while ashore.” Goldman and Cleeland prove that a numerical list can be effective in certain situations, highlighting Wal-Mart’s low prices: “Ragu pasta sauce for 89 cents, Aunt Jemima pancake mix for 48 cents, pork shoulder steaks for $1.49 a pound and five cans of Del Monte vegetables for $2.“ When the numbers are personalized, or when they are contextualized, they make more sense, versus boggling readers’ minds.
Anecdotal evidence and illustrative figures helped reporters to show rather than tell audiences the facts of the matter. In most cases, the journalists enlisted a model of “show, then tell,” doing what ABNW suggests: “Find the theme. Hammer it home.”
This pattern helps to pace the articles, allowing for smooth transitions that motivate the reader to keep reading. As Gartner does in ABNW, Goldman and Cleeland set off longer examples with short variations on the theme: “Wal-Mart gives. And Wal-Mart takes away.” “Yet Wal-Mart’s astonishing success exacts a heavy price.” “With Wal-Mart, the calculus is considerably more complex.”
The repetition helps to focus the story, especially in a lengthier piece. Furthermore, when the article is not a character-driven, chronological narrative, headings are an efficient way to structure the piece and guide readers, as used by Coy and Francis. They also make their piece more compelling than other similar stories by framing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two companies, as characters in the plotline.
Perhaps most importantly, these pieces are painfully crafted to give the illusion of being effortless, as Rinearson explains his half dozen attempts at writing a section of his piece about an airplane door: “I’d just throw it out and start all over again. …What I wanted to do was to get the writing to a place where it seemed effortless. … The goal was to make it so that the reader would have no sense of the fact that it was difficult to write.” Journalists must work hard to make the piece easier to comprehend, and thus, fulfill the goal of educating an audience.
