Straightforward stories, sometimes with a bit of Sunday style

How should we next take on the U.S. economic crisis in the news? The New York Times has turned its attention to the effects of the U.S. economy abroad in an article about a Norwegian town which is about to lose some very large investments made in the American market. The article is richly textured; perhaps it's more of a feature approach than a news one. The lede sets the stage by putting the town in the context of its location in its description of the day-long darkness that envelops the world north of the Arctic Circle this time of year. Later in the article, the writer discusses the contentious history of the port, thus pointing to the strategic location and energy resources of the town. Amidst all these nice details are the facts of the matter, beginning with a reminder of the cause of the current state of the U.S. economy and continuing with a description of how and why this Norwegian town came to invest in American markets and how they were subsequently duped into a situation they did not anticipate.

The Boston Globe takes a very clear-cut approach to an article on Massachusetts residents with AIDS. The article begins by reporting recommendations made by state public health officials yesterday before continuing on to describing the findings in the report. It surveys various people in public health to explain why the findings were as they were. At the end of the article, the reporter includes one of the commenters' observation that Governor Patrick has made dealing with AIDS a priority, so the article ends by offering a hand-off to future action that might take place as a result of the report. Straightforward and easy to understand.

An article in last week's Canton Citizen updates a news story but tailors it to a limited audience. The article describes the plan to redevelop the site of the closed Plymouth Rubber Company in Canton, the historic location of Paul Revere's copper mill. The article is informative, but only to those who are familiar with the community issue. It does not discuss the location of the site or the amount of time over which discussions of its redevelopment have been taking place. Granted, most of the paper's readers are probably current residents, but what about those who might read the paper online occasionally who have moved out of town?