InkTank

Spending Gone Soft

I (thankfully) have never ventured out into Black Friday madness like many of my friends. My day-after-Thanksgiving woes have more to do with eating too much again than with being trampled by crazy fellow customers. But in a year of financial insecurity, I was curious to see how people were responding to the recession on this day of spending.

The Washington Post article provided interesting insight into the spending frenzy gone soft. All year we've been hearing of layoffs and cutbacks, but this article provided several voices to attest to these changes.

In a story like this, a series of reporters will obviously talk to shoppers and get their take on the situation. People like Barbara Martin, Patsy Montgomery and Maria Russell told of how they are cutting back this year to no surprise.

It was a simple article, but it made one interesting point that I wish had been explored more in-depth. The economy is supposedly on the verge of a recovery. Reports were made that Black Friday participation went up this year. But spenders were "more uncertain about the economy this year than last."

The first hard sales numbers for Black Friday are not expected until Sunday. For the full holiday season, the National Retail Federation said it expects sales to fall 1 percent this year, to $437.6 billion, compared with a 3.4 percent decline last year. Many shoppers Friday said that -- despite having jobs and hearing projections of a recovery -- they were more uncertain about the economy this year than last. Their purchases, they said, would be curtailed.

Call me 'Ishmael'

Amongst the meandering pedestrians along 8th street, and right across the Dellenback apartment building, there is a great white beast.

Past the whiskers, fluffy snow-colored tail and ruby red eyes, is a creature which threatens to endanger nuts, seeds and possibly unsuspecting students walking to the Greenhouse every morning.

Always lurking in the shadows, the Great White squirrel rarely comes out during the day it seems. It only comes out to frolick along rooftops and tree branches in the wee hours of the morning, or late evening.

But! One late evening, while just about the leave the Dellanback, there it was! Staring at me, mocking me.

Luckily, I was armed with courage, and a camera.....

Journalists killed in massacre

Have you ever read a news story that actually shows and tells like Marvin Olasky mentions in "Directed Reporting"? Well, Jim Gomez, an Associated Press writer, reported about Philippine journalists being slaughtered. He not only writes an article, but he shows the reader what he's talking about.

As I was looking for a blog to critique for this assignment, I could not take my eyes off of this particular news story. The article titled, "Philippine journalists expect attacks to continue" starts out with an eye-catching lede.

Several white wooden coffins - all but one shut to hide the journalists' disfigured remains - were crammed into a rundown funeral parlor in the southern Philippines, not far from where they were slaughtered with guns, machetes and a backhoe.

You could not believe how many pictures came into my mind when I read the lede! I was amazed to see how much effort Gomez had put into making the beginning of the story one-of-a-kind. Details, details, details is all that I observed, especially in his first sentence. Specific words and phrases he used such as, "disfigured remains," or "slaughtered with guns, machetes and a backhoe" help the reader understand what happened to the journalists.

God is Making A Comeback

In Karen Armstong's article in the November/December issue of Foreign Policy magazine, she makes the case that despite growing secularism God is back, and a proper understanding of religion is as necessary as ever.

She asserts that although there have been movements to denounce religion, the idea of God can be seen in every aspect of our society, coming from human's deeply rooted need to have something to worship.

"When Friedrich Nietzsche announced the death of God in 1882, he thought that in the modern, scientific world people would soon be unable to countenance the idea of religious faith," Armstrong said. "By the time The Economist did its famous "God is Dead " cover in 1999, the question seemed moot, notwithstanding the rise of politicized religiosity-fundamentalism-in almost every major faith since the 1970's."

The idea that God is not Dead is the thesis of her article, and she defends her stance vehemently throughout. She does well to choose all of the most prominent issues on which religion is being attacked, and for each she offers her own spiel as to why many have come to erroneous conclusions.

Armstrong hits the issues of politics, violence and intolerance, poverty and ignorance, abuse of women, scientific issues and ethics and democracy. She highlights those issues for which some say religion is responsible and those for which other say religion is a hindrance.

What's up with newspapers? I dunno, lemme read 3 more paragraphs to find out...

We learned in class the 'secret' theory to a strong news article, and the first few steps involves creating the first four paragraphs to be the strongest building blocks for the rest of the story. An article in The Independent, James Murdoch Signals Reduced Role for His Family's Newspapers by Stephan Foley, is an excellent illustration...of what NOT to do.

Though I still struggle with those building blocks myself, I could tell that Foley had yet to discover that secret (!!) theory. That and dictionary (or heck, spell check); his article had five spelling errors, two of which were in the lede! Take Foley's second paragraph though:

Rupert Murdoch, son of Australian newspaper owner, built News Corp into one of the most formidible newspaper businesses in the world, owner of The Times and The Sun in the UK and, since 2007, The Wall Street Journal in the US. But at an investor conference in Barcelona yesterday, his son--who is now chairman of News Corp's businesses in Asia and Europe--said that the company's newspapers and journalism would decline in importance.

New York Times Fair to Palin

Most people tease Sarah Palin about seeing Russia from her porch. But many supporters think that vision is exactly what will make her a great presidential candidate in 2012.

And after a year of jokes and a lack of serious coverage during the 2008 campaign, the news media is finally beginning to tell that side of the story, as well.

Even The New York Times is catching on.

Recently, she began her book tour at a mall in Grand Rapids, Mich., which was flooded with Palin supporters. And New York Times reporter Kate Zernike told a captivating, accurate story that was filled with details about the event.

The attack of the progressives

Ok, so the Obama-mania has worn off. Not really a surprise with all the hype about "deficit-phobia" and unemployment rates floating about in headlines. Perhaps the bail out did wonders to our economy or perhaps it did not. Either way, we all know the extreme right conservatives will scream the loudest against Obama-policy, right? Well not necessarily.

The article, "MSNBC Not Shy About Criticizing Obama" shows it’s not only Fox News who can attack the president.

 While much attention has been paid to the feud between the Fox News Channel and the White House, the Obama administration is now facing criticism of a different sort from Ms. Maddow, Keith Olbermann and other progressive hosts on MSNBC, who are using their nightly news-and-views-casts to measure what she calls "the distance between Obama’s rhetoric and his actions."

I was intrigued by the word "progressive" to describe MSNBC hosts. It appears that when Fox News argues with the White House, it’s to be expected but when the progressives start to criticize it's kinda a big deal.  

D.C. papers take on the Manhattan Declaration

Recently, faith and politics seem to be clashing more often, or at least more publicly. The latest example is the release of the Manhattan Declaration, a document signed by the leaders of several Christian faiths stating their commitment to traditional stands on issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion.

The Washington Times and The Washington Post both covered the Manhattan Declaration with articles on Saturday, the day after the declaration was released to the public.

Here are the first two paragraphs from the Times’s article, “Religious leaders vow civil disobedience on anti-life issues:”

More than 150 leaders across a spectrum of conservative Christianity on Friday released a 4,700-word document vowing civil disobedience if they are forced to take part in "anti-life acts" or bless gay marriages.

Called the "Manhattan Declaration," the six-page, single-spaced document was drafted by Prison Fellowship founder Charles Colson, an evangelical, and Princeton University professor Robert P. George, a Roman Catholic, and included a bevy of Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox bishops, archbishops and cardinals as signatories along with dozens of clergy and laity.

Vaccinated for Smoking? Really?

In light of a recent trend of smoking bans around the country (especially on college campuses), I was intrigued when I found a story in today's Post entitled Smoking vaccine takes new approach--a story revealing information about an experimental vaccine called NicVax produced by Nabi Biopharmaceuticals.

Washington Post Staff Writer Mike Musgrove leads with the dilemma most smokers could probably agree they have dealt with in their lifetimes: how do I quit smoking?

Smokers have tried a long list of ways to quit: cold turkey, counseling, gum, patches and more. 

I think any of us with smokers in our families or friends that have struggles with an addiction to nicotine can relate to these three strategies many smokers attempt to help them kick the habit. We all have an uncle or stepdad who has slapped one of those nicotine patches on his arm (and in my stepfather's case continued to smoke with the patch which can be detrimental) or chewed gum until lock jaw began to go into effect.

According to the American Heart Association, a study conducted in 2006 showed 23.5 percent of men and 18.1 percent of women are smokers--and as we all have been told a thousand times, these individuals are at a much higher risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Many want to quit but simply cannot find the best way to do so--Nabi suggests it may have the solution.

Employees or executives: Who is newsworthy?

In the Washington Post article about the layoffs happening at AOL, all the facts are presented. The company wants to cut one third of its workforce over the next few months. The Chief Executive is not going to take a bonus this year. Incentives are being given to those who voluntarily leave. Nice. Simple. Under 400 words.  

Much of the article was focusing on AOL's Cheif Executive Tim Armstrong, including a short bio of his time at AOL:

Under Armstrong, who led Google's advertising business during his career there, AOL has sought to reinvent itself as a Web content and advertising company. In its portfolio are successful and popular properties such as the celebrity news site TMZ, tech blog Engadget and map service Mapquest.

This is interesting and I can see how the information pertains to the article, but I want to know more about the rest of the company. What about those down the ladder who are being offered incentives to leave voluntarily? There are only two mentions of these incentives in the article, the main one being at the beginning of the article.

'Black Friday' ...'Cyber Monday'?

I've only gone shopping on Black Friday twice in my life. Though in my family (especially for my sisters), Black Friday is an exciting event, I think the really good finds are any day after that bleak Friday, or especially after Christmas.

But an article I read presented a surprising--yet obvious--trend that's on the rise that helps people like me not feel guilty for waking up at 2 a.m and missing out on a fantastic deal. The trend is called 'Cyber Monday', the online shopping day when everyone is back to work and sitting in their cubicle, still shopping.

Is the US Senate Lou Dobbs' next job?

When I read earlier this week about Lou Dobbs leaving CNN, I couldn't believe it. But what even surprised me the most is the headline of an article in the Telegraph, "Lou Dobbs considering run for US senate." 

In Nick Allen's article, he not only explained that the CNN star left the studio, but also what Dobbs is planning to do now that he is unemployed. His paragraphs are short and detailed, however, there are a few flaws I observed.

Bing to Google: It's On

Three heads are better than two, as it turns out.

For those of you too busy googling 'Edward' and/or 'Brangelina', listen up to the real news; the web is a-buzzin' after journalists Matthew Garrahan, Richard Waters and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson of the Financial Times broke the news of a conflict between Microsoft (Bing) and Google that would soon affect everyone looking for news online: Microsoft and Nes Corp Eye Web Pact

(Microsoft Offers to Pay News Corp to "De-List" Itself from Google, For Search, Murdoch Looks to Deal with Microsoft, and Microsoft News Corp to Threaten Google? are just some of the many articles stemming from the article I'm blogging about.)

The lede from this article, Microsoft and News Corp Eye Web Pact posted Nov. 22 goes like this:

Vampires and werewolves; heartmelting?

I'm sure everyone has heard about the weekend hype of the movie The Twilight Saga: New Moon. The Twilight series, which is a craze among teenage girls, in my opinion, got more than enough media coverage. A lot of that coverage revolved around the fact that the new movie was so successful in its' first week, much like this article by the Associated Press. But being the anti-Twilight girl that I am, I was really pleased to see a different type of Twilight article.

In an article by USA Today called Women also mooning over the teen-vampire romance 'Twilight,' author Maria Puente took a different approach. Not only did she mention how well New Moon did, but she helped further define the type of people intrigued with Twilight; for example, middle-aged women.

Puente's approach to Twilight coverage is clearly shown in the lede.

It has been three days since The Twilight Saga: New Moon opened, and it's increasingly obvious that adult – even mature – women are making as much noise as teen girls over this tale of a great love between a teenage girl and a vampire, with a few werewolf complications.

I think this lede was very important because Puente picked out the most intriguing detail about the Twilight series; not that it's popular, but that it's popular with even mature women. This is a very good example of a trend story and Puente further describes the trend in detail.

Change is a comin!

The tides of change have come and it is coming in on a wave...a Google Wave that is...

If you haven't heard about the Wave there are some brief descriptions here and here. I recently got my Wave invite and have been exploring how to apply this real time tool to real life. In  my search, I ran across the article, "Not Many Riding the Wave" which explores the corporate angle of the anticipation of the Wave.

The lede starts off with a brief summary of the article:

Google’s latest brainchild, Google Wave, is all the rage among bleeding-edge technology enthusiasts. But corporate information technology executives say that while they’re intrigued by Wave – a replacement for e-mail, the most widely used of all Internet services – they’re not ready to adopt it.

Part of the reason is a reluctance to entrust important data to someone else’s servers, even those of giant Google. But another factor is old-fashioned resistance to change.

Media Employs Poor Journalism, Speculates about Washington Times

 Coverage of the shakeup at The Washington Times has been marked with anonymous sources and empty speculation that the newspaper will go out of business.

Aside from a balanced story by The Washington Post, this rumor-mill style of poor journalism crept up last week as other competing D.C. publications, such as Mediabistro and The Politico, jumped all over the chance to attack The Times when former Executive Editor John Solomon resigned.

Matt Dornic at Mediabistro relied on anonymous sources that he very well could have fabricated to report the mindset of a newsroom he hasn’t entered, and his publication went as far as to run the headline: “TWT Newsroom Panics After Solomon Resigns.”

Following the resignation of Washington Times Executive Editor John Solomon this evening, TWT Managing Editor David Jones addressed his staff via the below memo. Jones says that the newsroom will carry on "business as usual" but sources tell FishbowlDC that Times staff is expressing panic and fearing the worst.

But I don’t remember anyone panicking. I have been in the newsroom during this time, and while staffers were wondering what was going on with Solomon, no one seemed seriously worried about the newspaper going under.

Journalism may survive yet!

As a journalism student preparing to plunge into the world of "dying newspapers" and questions about online ads, the words "video ads are booming" are like music to my ears.

The growing use of video ads is wonderfully presented in the article by Brian Stetler on the New York Times website with a headline claiming that if video is involved, online ads are "booming."

The combination of facts and explanation make for a very interesting and understandable article.

The beginning of the article likens online news services to television instead of newspapers, refering to increased video use on CNN.com and ESPN.com and the live newscast on WSJ.com that is featured twice daily. Then we get to the main topic of the article:

A major reason is commercial. At a time when other categories of advertising dollars are shrinking, video ads are booming. News sites are adding more video inventory to keep pace with the demands of advertisers, and benefiting from the higher cost-per-thousands, or C.P.M.’s, that ads on those videos command.

Stetler says that "media companies typically do not break out figures for video advertising" but still offers figures from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and comScore to give readers some practical ways to see how video ads are "booming."

Journalists being killed in their own countries?

When my fellow classmates and I went to the Newseum, I remember being astounded by the amount of journalists I saw on the Journalists Memorial that had lost their lives. These journalists were not only people reporting on the news, but were also the watchdogs of the society, the truth-seekers, and those who were doing the job that no one else wants to do, especially those who report from foreign countries during a war or a catastrophe.

I stood in awe reading the stories of how these journalists had died. It made me think of the career I was getting myself into-journalism- and how serious its tasks and risks are. The article I chose to critique reflects this topic that is very intriguing to me.

In Spero News, a UN News staff writer wrote an article about the World Electronic Media Forum that promoted awareness and "global action" to prevent the murder of journalists in war and in "peacetime."

The flow of the article is simple and goes straight to the point-the way most articles should be. The lede is only one sentence and clear to the reader. The writer mentions exactly what took place and who attended the event. At this point, it is not necessary to tell where the event was held until later in the article.

What should the US do in Afghanistan?

I was very interested in the Washington Times article called Clinton: Ousting al Qaeda only goal in Afghanistan. Because the United States future involvement is such a hot topic in our country today, any article on strategy in Afghanistan is newsworthy. During the beginning of my internship at United Press International, I wrote an article on this topic called Novelist Hosseini urges patience in Afghanistan with a completely different take on the issue. So it was intriguing to hear a different stance on the topic.

There were several things I really enjoyed about the article. In the beginning, the lede was very strong, with a clear-cut paraphrased quote. This is a great way to start an article.

Details, details....

Getting the facts right is something newspaper reporters can’t afford to compromise. Because “objectivity” is so hard to define – let alone put into practice – accuracy matters a lot when a person’s job is to inform. And when an issue is particularly divisive, it becomes even more important to get all the details right. Looking at the Washington Post’s treatment of the Catholic Church’s interactions with the D.C. Council recently is an opportunity to learn how one publication does this.

 I looked at the Post’s article, called “D.C. Council digs in on same-sex nuptials,” a second-day story about the council’s same-sex marriage bill, which has not yet passed, and the Archdiocese of Washington's response to this proposed law. The Post’s first article on the story, “Catholic Church gives D.C. ultimatum,” which ran on Thursday, Nov. 12, laid out the story’s basics. The next story ran on Friday.

While I believe the second-day story’s three writers made a valiant effort to write a balanced story with all sides represented, I think this story’s greatest fault was simply the lack of specific information.

 I’m glad the story includes this quote from the Archdiocese:

Susan Gibbs, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese, countered that the city is “the one giving the ultimatum.”

“We are not threatening to walk out of the city,” Gibbs said. “The city is the one saying, ‘If you want to continue partnering with the city, then you cannot follow your faith teachings.’”

Darkness Falls on D.C. Sniper

For the past couple of months I have been overhearing some fellow reporters at my internship (The Washington Times) talk about the execution of John Allen Muhammad. A young female reporter named Kristi had covered multiple stories leading up to the night when he would be executed through lethal injection. Kristi left the publication due to a new job offer leaving the story with fellow metro reporter, Sarah Abruzzese. Sarah was one of the four media to witness the execution on November 10, 2009.

At 9:06 p.m., the curtain was drawn back, revealing Muhammad strapped in, his hands taped to the gurney and two intravenous tubes - one in each arm, but a curtain concealed what they were attached to. A red and a green wire that prison officials said were attached to a heart monitor wound through Muhammad's shirt.

This is a great example of how much better journalism is when a reporter is actually able to witness the event first hand. Sarah is able to set the scene, letting us know exactly what the death chamber looked like--all the way down the red and green wires on the heart monitor.

Writers for CNN also covered the story, however none of their reporters were able to witness the execution. They had to rely on other sources to tell them what is was like. Of course, this can still be very effective, but the story does not typically wind up with as many vivid details.

In fact, Muhammad, 48, said nothing from the time he entered the death chamber accompanied by guards at 8:58 p.m., Traylor said.

The time 8:58 was consistent with Sarah's story, and certainly is an important detail in a case like this. But the rest is very vague--"accompanied by guards?" How many guards? Was he hand cuffed? Was he wearing a straight jacket?

Five Ideas that might Save Journalism: Or Waste Our Time

Amidst fears of a collapsing industry, a wide-spread move to the web and an online advertising model that has yet to be mastered, it comes as no surprise that journalists across the country are frantically trying to come up with new  ideas to save the press.

John Cook, a writer for The Business Journal, wrote an extensive blog Sunday, chronicling five entrepreneurial ideas he encountered at GonzoCampII , a conference made up of journalist, developers, students and others with an "entrepreneurial spirit,"  held in Seattle on Friday.

"We concluded at that time that what the industry needed was a confab of sorts in the spirit of StartupWeekend ," Cook said. "The idea was that journalists could develop their new business concepts with the help of software developers, Web designers or other geeks who actually knew how to build stuff."

Cook discussed the nature of the conference, as well as outlined these five ideas.

The social aspects of technology

Whether or not the ever-evolving world of technology is hindering the communal nature of human beings is a popular debate lately. Surveys and studies abound on the topic. My freshman year of college, in my Media and Society class, I worked on a project that dealt with this very issue. An article from Reuters brings another voice to the table in the debate in its piece “Technology doesn’t isolate people: U.S. study.” 

The lede is enticing:

Contrary to popular belief, the Internet and mobile phones are not isolating people but enhancing their social worlds, according to a U.S. survey.

However, this is vague. When I think of technology isolating people, I think of the typical argument that people are less able to engage one another because they have less actual contact with each other. This is what I expected to read about when I saw this article’s headline. In the lede, though, I see some pretty vague language: technology is “enhancing their social worlds.” This could mean a lot of different things.

The article’s author, Belinda Goldsmith, says this new survey is in response to an earlier survey that showed

Americans becoming more socially isolated, their social networks shrinking, and the diversity of their contacts decreasing.

She then goes on to cite the Pew Internet and American Life Project survey, which said that Internet and cell phone usage is linked to “more diverse social networks.” What I wanted to know was what that means. Maybe your social networks are more diverse, but are you still sitting alone inside your house with your communication devices?

Do YOU Hulu?

As a busy college student and interning journalist in Washington, DC, my days and nights are often filled with important work and exploration of our nation's capital. These facts coupled with the truth that I do not have a television in my apartment sometimes makes it difficult for me to sit down at an allotted time to keep up to speed with some of my favorite shows when they go on the air. Luckily for me, I can get my dose of McDreamy at online sites such as ABC.com and Hulu if I can't sit down at a television to watch Grey's Anatomy every Thursday at 9:00 pm. 

According to Mike Musgrove at the Washington Post, more people are using the computer in place of the television. While Musgrove makes it clear through a quote by Michael Gartenberg of Imterpret that this is "not mainstream behavior," the numbers of those who are ditching cable for computer are rising.

Musgrove starts off introducing a new feature for the popular web site Hulu.

The online video service Hulu added a long-overdue feature last week: A "coming soon" page designed to give the site's millions of users a heads-up about when they'll be able to watch the next new episode of "Fringe" or "Parks and Recreation" in their Web browsers.

Social Media in the Workplace: good/bad?

I think everyone has that moment during the work day of 'Mm, I'm not too busy so why not check the facebook?' I'm sure its not a strange thought in a newsroom. In the article Social Media Going Corporate by Benny Evangelista of the San Francisco Chronicle, Evangelista reports on the recent study that putting in a quick tweet or comment instead of finishing up that paper work may be helping your creativity.

Seriously.

In the article, Evangelista coments on recent findings of several studies based on the percentages of corporations benefiting from the use of social media verse the others who 'stifle creativity' (which was 54 percent, that is, those businesses who were diminishing because access to social media outlets was not allowed). The article opens with the story of a Comcast Company employee who was recently congratulated for using twitter to better costumer relations.

"At Comcast, employee Frank Eliason took the initiative last year to use his own Twitter account to contact costumers who were tweeting about service problems. Now known as "Famous Frank," Eliason has been credited with almost single-handedly turning around Comcast's reputation. He heads of staff of 11 who monitor social networks and offer help to costumers."

White House- Fox News out, Federal Shield Laws in

Learning about shield laws in a journalism class my freshman year in college is one thing, but actually reading a recent article that says journalists are need of these shield laws today made me realize how real the issue is.  

In the staff writer’s editorial piece, "Public, press need federal shield law," of Startribune.com, an online press of Minneapolis, Minnesota, the writer’s lede is straight to the point and simple. There is enough information for the reader to understand what the article is about.

Given his in-box of international and domestic problems, President Obama probably shouldn't spend too much time on journalism and media issues. So it's a good sign that the White House focus has shifted from the foolish feud with Fox News to a media issue that really matters: A national shield law to give adequate protection to journalists who face fines or imprisonment for not revealing their confidential sources.

What Do We Lose With Copy Editors?

Hilarious. In the above, a Toronto Star editor copyedits the publishers memo announcing layoffs. It was the editor's subtle clue that the publisher could benefit from editorial aid and that outsourcing copyediting to freelancers might not be the best idea.

There's no doubt that newspapers are in trouble. Copy editor layoffs haven't gotten  much attention -- certainly not as much as the reporter layoffs. After all, copy editors are invisible by nature. They're layoffs are the unacknowledged part of the larger loss of "journalism jobs."

Unfortunately, the marketplace now eliminates journalism jobs at a rate in excess of 1,000 a month.

That's a lot of people out of work, and in the case of copy editors, a lot of people who served a valuable function to the community. What do we lose with copy editors?

Water legislation in California

I was pretty disappointed with the article by the Los Angeles Times called "Schwarzenegger signs part of water package." I was attracted to this article because it addresses water issues right here on U.S. soil, and I have researched and wrote a lot lately on global water issues. I think the idea that California is passing legislation to improve the treatment of water is a good thing, but I think this article could have been written better.

In the lede, author Bettina Boxall begins with a W5H format, where she explains the basics of who, what, when and where; the how is implied. I find this lede very boring and simply uninteresting.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger went to a scruffy field in the San Fernando Valley on Friday to sign two pieces of water legislation passed earlier this week.

In class at the Washington Journalism Center in DC, we have discussed speech and event ledes. In this case, which is more of an event, I think a paraphrased quote lede would have worked better, followed by a direct quote and then a W5H. This would make the article more interesting and intriguing for readers. I think the sixth paragraph quote by Schwarzenegger would have been a great quote to use to base the lede on.

Well, you know what happens when you assume...

I feel like you would have to be living under a rock to not know the Fort Hood shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, was a Muslim. In fact, I am pretty sure I knew Hasan was a Muslim before the final death count. Between twitter feeds, blogs, and hard news articles, Hasan's religion seems to be the only area of focus to determine why a Army Major would do this. Yet one New York Times article, "Obama Offers Sympathy and Urges No 'Jump to Conclusions'" caught my eye as something different. Here's the lede...

A Reduction in Reproduction: Good or Bad?

The human race's fertility rate has certainly seen its peaks and valleys over time. Writers for The Economist say a lower fertility rate is changing the world for the better.

Sometime in the next few years (if it hasn't happened already) the world will reach a milestone: half of humanity will be having only enough children to replace itself.

This staggering statement does a great job of summing up everything that unfolds in the following paragraphs. And the parenthetical, "if it hasn't happened already," tells us this is a phenomenon spreading like wildfire.  Since I am clearly not an expert on the subject, I thought it was okay for the population to continue to increase as long as the country was not at risk of being over- populated. Honestly I've never put too much consideration into the the long-term affects of a decrease in fertility rates.   But writers for the magazine say half the word's fertility rate will be 2.1 or below. According to The Economist, this is the "magic number" that allows a nation's population to slow down and stabilize. But what does all of this mean in retrospect?

Apparently, the move to what is referred to as "replacement-level fertility" is one of the most monumental social changes we've ever seen. Because of the decrease, traditional family life has changed forever, giving more women around the world the opportunity to get jobs and giving children the chance of going to school.