What is the human face of the current economic disaster?

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 economy is a major story of the present time, and yet there is little journalism in major papers that sheds light on the human suffering associated with huge unemployment.

Unfortunately, Rich’s story starts with a lukewarm lead: “Patricia Reid is not in her 70’s, an age when many Americans continue to work.” Huh? Perhaps he should have led with Reid’s comment buried halfway through the article, “We’re circling the drain here, and I’m bailing like hell.”

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.