What America could learn from fighting ISIS

In NY Times this article, Nick Kristof talks about how President Obama’s campaign in Iraq against the terrorist group ISIS is more focused on military funding than education. He believes that ISIS has grown to be stronger due to their extremist ways and oppression of women. He also believes that the US can use the opposite to their advantage: women’s rights and education.

The article is an opinion piece which differs from a straight news story. Instead of a lede, the introduction is used to set the scene for the rest of the piece. He doesn’t make his full point until around the third to last graph. Unlike a straight news story, the article is biased and opinionated. Kristof expresses his opinion using words such as “naive” and “unfortunately” to describe his opposition to Obama’s plan for ISIS. Kristof also uses many sources within the article so readers can understand what he is talking about. He uses these sources when he is talking about facts. When he discusses his opinion, there are little sources. Kristof uses questions to introduce his main argument in the middle of the article. This method is helpful posing a question causes the reader to fill in his or her own answers.

Vietnam soldiers receive belated presidential recognition

President Obama held a ceremony granting two recipients the Medal of Honor in the White House on Monday. Recognition was given in leu of soldiers who displayed fine zeal in defense of the United States during the Vietnam War. The article was published by The Associated Press on The Boston Globe‘s website.

As an anecdotal news story, the article wins the heed of its readers the whole way through. With the delayed identification of the two medal recipients, readers are encouraged to read on in order to discover the article’s subjects.

Structurally, I wished that some chief information was brought to the forefront of the story. One of the recipients is deceased and he was not present at the ceremony to claim his honor. This fact is slightly pertinent to know prior to having read the majority of the article.

The sources provide depth, reliability, and context. With reputable sources Julie Pace, an AP White House correspondent, and, not to mention President Obama, the result is a quite credible news story.