Tell us what we need to know

Part of the newsworthiness of today’s New York Times article on the Phil Spector trial is that there has been little to report for months, which the reporter self-consciously points out in saying that the trial “had been lacking in headline-making moments in the more than four months it has gone on.” That said, all the background information that follows the lede should have come after the newsworthy information about the judge’s decision to alter the jury instructions. After reading in the headline that the trial has reached an “impasse,” one is more interested in hearing what that obstacle is than in being reminded that Phil Spector was “the creative force behind such classics as ‘Da Doo Ron Ron’ and ‘Be My Baby.’”

Much more clearly structured is a Washington Post article on the assassination of an anti-Syrian lawmaker in Lebanon. It begins with the death toll—at least seven—and the context—that a bombing took place six days before a new president is to be elected. It outlines the history of the assassination of anti-Syrian public figures in Lebanon over the last few years and gives a general explanation of the Lebanese government and the factions involved. It presents all the context the reader needs to understand the situation without having previous knowledge on Lebanon’s situation.

While bomb blasts in the Middle East unfortunately come as little surprise these days, a story in the Boston Globe on the dangers of pizza delivery was somewhat unexpected. The article describes a recent “rash of thefts” from delivery people who go to such crime-ridden neighborhoods of Boston as Roxbury and Mattapan. The article does well describing minor incidents at first and leading up to more serious ones and gives the crime statistics to back up its case. It may not be news to some—the pizza deliverymen all have systems they put into use long ago to protect themselves—but it is a reminder to many of the Globe’s suburban readers that one wrong turn in a dangerous neighborhood could be more serious than they think.

Occasionally, the Canton Citizen proves its relevance to its suburban readers: today it does well to highlight two stories that would not appear in a larger newspaper. The first relates to an ongoing dispute between Canton and Westwood over a shopping complex slated to be built in Westwood near the Canton border. The article shows Canton’s progress forward in gaining the governor’s support against building an off-ramp from I-95 at Dedham Street in Canton, noting the number of additional cars that would bring into the town and describing likely alternatives to the off-ramp. It might have benefited from a diagram or map detailing the proposed alternative, but the description is clear enough to those who live in the affected neighborhoods. The second locally-newsworthy article describes the family connection to Canton of Paul Cahill, the West Roxbury firefighter killed two weeks ago while fighting a fire that broke out in a restaurant. The article is a thoughtful tribute that tells a family’s story in a time of grief, but it does come on the heels of another tribute to a former Canton resident who was killed, Norton’s Beth Spence Cann. The effect for a regular reader is somewhat morbid.