Spot the Hard News
I guess that this exercise shows you that while it is a good idea to follow all of the rules for news writing, there are situations that call for a different approach to news reporting. While not hard news, these topics are worth covering. More along the lines of human interest pieces, these news articles bring a greater understanding of an on-going issue to the reader, rather than reporting on a single event.
For the article about the Golden Gate park layoffs, a hard news story of the layoffs featuring only the facts and statistics about the problems facing the San Fransisco Recreation and Parks department would be unremarkable, and probably relegated to the back pages of the newspaper. However, by showing how the layoff will effect different members of the department, the article allows the reader look beyond the numbers, and gives them the chance to learn more about an issue they would have never have been fully informed of by a hard news article.
For the article about the Golden Gate park layoffs, a hard news story of the layoffs featuring only the facts and statistics about the problems facing the San Fransisco Recreation and Parks department would be unremarkable, and probably relegated to the back pages of the newspaper. However, by showing how the layoff will effect different members of the department, the article allows the reader look beyond the numbers, and gives them the chance to learn more about an issue they would have never have been fully informed of by a hard news article.
I wonder if these articles would be in the Feature section of the newspaper rather than the news section. Maybe front page if it's a slow newsday.