When reflecting on an article from Friday’s Times, I was instantly drawn to the bold letters shouting in the dead center of the paper, “Stocks Drop Sharply and Credit Markets Seize Up”. With the economy in a slump, the article is extremely relevant, not to mention hard to miss. The Dow industrials were also a nice, catchy visual.
The lead, which set the economic scene by relaying Thursday’s fear-stricken financial market, jumped right into Friday’s plunge that wiped out gains within the last decade. The article was organized very clearly in a linear pattern, expanding on the reader’s questions about Friday’s drop in the Dow Jones industrial average.
The first paragraph fueled reader’s interest by addressing the extent of the latest damage-which means back to square one for many companies bailed out by the $700 billion rescue plan in October. The second and third paragraph address the details of the article including:
1.) The Dow’s fall by nearly 445 points, or 5.6 percent- the lowest drop since the pre- dot boom era in 1997.
2.) The $8.3 trillion in stock market wealth erased in the past 13 months.
3.) The increasing worry of investors like Citigroup, which dropped to fresh lows of 26.4 percent.
The remainder of the article zeros in on specific investors and the recent plight- like Standard and Poor’s and Citigroup- to give readers a personal sense of the economic damage. I do not have much criticism for the article, as it addressed the obvious who, what, when and where questions in lamest terms and also expanded on particular companies losses.
I was surprised to learn that the Dow Jones industrial average closed at 7,552.29, barely surpassing lows in last October's 2002 bear market. I think the article could have benefitted from more quotes from investors, as this would drive home the severity of the companies' struggles for real individuals facing the consequences of a plummeting market.
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