Headline: She Tried To Report On Climate Change. Sinclair Told Her To Be More “Balanced.”
This week, I chose a story from Buzzfeed News for a number of reasons. As I understand it, among journalists, Buzzfeed is seen as a laughable news source, and understandably so. Their listicles rely on social media trends and crass humor for clicks, and when they attempt investigative reporting, it is sloppily done, as exemplified in their Trump dossier leaks in January 2017, for which they garnered a considerable amount of negative attention. However, I noticed that their news staff was a 2018 Pulitzer Prize finalist for international news reporting, which impressed me. I thought, “They must be doing something right.”
I gave their news section a glance and settled on this article about a reporter whose news station changed once Sinclair took over management. Her work was criticized more often, and she was encouraged to include the ‘conservative’ perspective in her stories, which seems valid, honestly. I also found this story interesting given the recent scrutiny of the media conglomerate.
I really love the way Buzzfeed lays out these long-form stories, and I assume they look equally as clean on mobile devices. The large photograph on top, with the headline and deck laid over, looks polished and immediately draws me in. This first picture is poignant and well-done; however, the pictures get increasingly strange and unrelated as the story continues. Crowe is seen with her dog in dim light in the last photo in the story. What does that pup have to do with Sinclair and her experiences with her former employer?
I like the inclusion of the drop-quotes, splitting up the different part of the story well. I also really appreciated them finding the tweet mentioned in the story about Crowe winning the Associated Press award.
As I have repeatedly mentioned in these assignments, when I critique articles, I look for a single person’s story to carry the article and the issue being discussed, and this article does that well, following Suri Crowe in the months after Sinclair took over management of her local news station. Her work became increasingly scrutinized, as were her ‘liberal’ views.
The sources in the story were strong, and I was very surprised that they managed to get quotes from the producer that Crowe claimed was mistreating her. I felt like their reporting was biased, though, even after they recorded both Crowe and her manager’s recollections of the incidents mentioned. The way stories are framed can also play a part in their tone and bias, and the way the story ends clearly nudges readers to empathize with Crowe, which seems hypocritical.
All in all, I was surprised at the thoroughness of their reporting, and I wish this story wasn’t buried under hundreds of articles about the Kardashians.
Devna Bose - Journalism 377 