News Analysis

This article can be found here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/science/earth/07mammal.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin


This hard news story discusses the trend of an increasing number of endangered species worldwide. It begins with the lede: “An “extinction crisis” is under way, with one in four mammals in danger of disappearing because of habitat loss, hunting and climate change, a leading global conservation body warned Monday” which some might consider a quote lede.
The nut graph comes very quickly after the lede, and emphasizes why this trend is important: “Within our lifetime, hundreds of species could be lost as a result of our own actions,” said Julia Marton-Lefèvre, the director general of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, or I.U.C.N., a network of campaign groups, governments, scientists and other experts.” This is obviously a "killer quote" to follow up the lede. The article does a nice job of layering sources: there are facts, statistics, but also several quotes from “experts” in different fields.

While this article very definitely takes the form of an inverted triangle, it does not have an “ABAB” format for differing viewpoints. It is interesting that this article is not about human individuals, and so I think that this is perhaps because it is a less controversial subject that this format suits.

Finally, the article ends on a “fizzle out” note: “The I.U.C.N. said increases in the population of the elephants in southern and eastern Africa were big enough to offset any decreases taking place elsewhere.” This is a diversion from the original “so what” of the article and so seems as though the writer has simply run out of material to cover.

What I like about this article is that it organizes material very well: it sends a clear message (animal endangerment is a serious threat) while still being very objective.