Political Journalism: A critique

In a slightly different vein than my last two posts, this post is in response to a class assignment in which I have chosen an article in my beat (politics) and will analyze some of the good and bad aspects of the story.

The article I will discuss is entitled "In New Hampshire, search continues for Romney alternative" in the Political Wires section of the Miami Herald. The article, written by David Lightman, can be accessed here:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/16/2457028/in-new-hampshire-search-continues.html



Lightman's lead is weighty and difficult to read. He begins by stating that New Hampshire is preparing for "for the nation's first presidential primary." This statement sounds as though the United States has never had a presidential primary election before, when in fact I'm sure he meant "the first presidential primary of the 2012 election."

The article then proceeds into bullet points. While bullet points can certainly be effective, I'm not sure that they are appropriate for this type of journalism. Perhaps someone would like to disagree with me in the comments section, but I personally feel as though bullets are extremely easily avoided by simply making the points in short, one-to-two-sentence paragraphs.

I do like that Lightman briefly highlights the history and process of the New Hampshire primary election. While the paragraph is short, it adds context and allows the reader to carry on reading without being weighed down by TOO much information.

While Mitt Romney has not always been the front-runner in the polls, he has remained steady in his support throughout the past year. I do not believe that Lightman makes this clear in the article, and he also does not highlight the concerns that many citizens have with Romney. Why has Romney not been the front-runner all along? Why would he struggle if someone with a lot of money and support came along? Lightman could easily mention some of the press attention given to his religion and policies that have caused controversy and made Romney a shaky candidate.

Lightman does highlight some good facts about other candidates active in the Republican race, as well as concerns that citizens have. His quotes are generally well placed and pertain to the topic. The layout of his article is nice, with very short chunks of information. Personally, I would avoid a page-flip for an online article (most people will not bother to look at the second page), but this is probably not his choice.

I'm not so sure about the way that Lightman ends the article either. While the second part of his last quote is nice (stating that "people here want to develop a level of comfort with their candidate"), the first part of the quote talks about people wanting personal privacy. This does not seem to fit in with the rest of the article.

Overall, I would say that Lightman's article was well researched, well laid out, and generally interesting, but with very mediocre writing.

Check back this week for a look into bankrupt cities and what some towns are doing to balance the budget.