In the New York Times article found here, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/20/business/economy/20older.html?ref=todayspaper writer Motoko Rich explores a facet of the current unemployment picture, the difficulties faced by the middle aged jobless, by featuring the story of 57 year old Patricia Reid, who was laid off four years ago after twenty years at Boeing as an internal auditor and analyst.
The background research is not balanced. There are six sources, but they are all institutional: AARP, the Census Bureau, the Labor Department, an academic, WorkSource and the Gallup Poll. This makes the article only slightly less numbing than those that are purely economic, relying solely on facts and figures. If the writer had interviewed others in Pat’s age group in more depth (there are a few snippets from her classmates in a WorkSource training session) the article might have had more power and been more interesting to read.
I think it is of paramount importance to portray the human cost of the economic slump if citizens are to have the knowledge they need to make responsible (not kneejerk) political judgments, and I have seen very little such reporting, except for superficial reviews of people who have lost their homes.
Putting the human face on a subject like the economy is a wonderful way of connecting readers to mega issues. Ironically, it seems the larger the issue, the easier it is to dismiss with a haphazard thought process. Seeing how a real person copes tends to open the blinkers of the general public a bit.
ReplyDeleteThe trouble is -- especially when it comes to personal finance -- not many people are brave enough to tell their stories. And still others are barred from speaking publicly about their situations because of separation agreements with previous employers.
This was a very thoughtful blog post -- thanks for bringing the story to our attention.
Great points, Molly & Nancy. I think the article was trying to capture the fears of the baby boomer age group in terms of job & economy and paint a personalized 'real-life' picture for the reader. The figures used from the institutionalized sources may have been an attempt to give an "impression" of balancing act between subjective vs. fact. However, I do agree that it was heavy on one side of the spectrum. I liked your analysis of the article. I read the article before I read your comments. I missed some of the things that you pointed the first time I read the article, but reading your comments provided an alternate and interesting perpective. I agree with Nancy, you provided a well thought out analysis indeed.
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