Providing context

Today's articles raise questions about the amount of context necessary to allow a reader understand the full implications of a news event. Some do it well, while others could stand to do a little more digging before they publish.

A New York Times article on the meeting between the North and South Korean leaders does more than just report the ostensible reason for their visit, it characterizes the nature of the visit in a larger context, as well. The article states after a lengthy but colorful lede about Roh’s reception in North Korea that Kim Jong Il and Roh Moo-hyun are meeting to strike a deal that would lead to North Korea’s disarmament of its nuclear weapons in exchange for economic benefits from South Korea. The article notes the extra efforts by Roh that are a show of good faith between the neighboring countries, such as symbolically walking over the border instead of flying into the airport in Pyongyang. The fact that Kim counters this with a chilly reception legitimizes the analysis presented in the article that perhaps Kim will take advantage of the South’s economic aid without living up to his side of the bargain.

The Washington Post reports on the results of a poll it conducted with ABC News about President Bush’s proposal to fund the war in Iraq with $190 billion dollars over the coming year. The report is a detailed news analysis, and it explains the results well in-text, but also with a graphic. The article mentions early on that Americans have more support for Congressional Democrats than for Republicans, despite overall disapproval of Congress. It would have been informative to offer a comment from a political scientist about why they might be the case. In general, though, the article presents detailed responses, as well as varied comments from average citizens from around the country, that seem to capture public opinion well.

The Boston Globe continues to follow MIT students’ pranks with a seemingly unquenchable curiosity. Today an article reports on an email sent to students by the school’s chancellor, reminding them to keep their behavior in line when hacking. The article defines hacking as “harmless pranks” for those who have not been following the earlier stories. Also as a recap, the article suggests what recent pranks the chancellor might have had in mind when he sent the email, despite the fact that no specific incidents were mentioned in it. Too bad the article could not include quotes from some of MIT’s more colorful students: those quoted took opposing views—one senior seeing the email as a parental scolding and the other appreciating it as trying to uphold MIT’s integrity—but neither one expressed anything that captured the mischievous spirit of hacking. Frankly, they were dull.

A Patriot Ledger article reports that Ryan Bois was finally found psychologically competent to stand trial for the murder of his six-year-old cousin over the summer after two months of psychiatric evaluation. The article recounts the charges against Bois—including a new one not introduced previously, of rape—but it does not suggest a reason for the delay. In the beginning of the story, the emphasis is on the fact that Bois had to undergo further psychiatric evaluation, postponing his arraignment a month ago, but there is not information to suggest why this was the case.