With a title like this one, I was immediately interested. The lead was a scene-setting lead followed by a nutgraph. The article also included quotes from different sources, as well as statistics about both emissions and contents in algae. The experts, including professors and spokespeople for airline companies who are considering using the algae for their fuel, were contacted and quoted in the article. This is good because it gives both a scientific and business perspective on the issue.
The article also defines just what "aquarium scum" is. I think it uses that phrase to grab the reader's attention and then uses defines the actual "scum" that is being proposed to be used. In this story, the aquarium scum is algae. This article even goes deeper to say that this algae is farming algae. This is one example of filling in all the holes, because it provides extra information that the readers probably won't be able to figure out by themselves.
The end of the article also makes predictions, saying that algae fuel will be profitable in five years. The author did not make the prediction though; he presented opinions of sources in the article. He also included a quote from an opposing position to this prediction, to keep the story fair.
All-in-all, I'd say this story is done pretty well. There didn't seem to be any holes that I could find and the author included quotes and statistics to keep the article from being opinionated. Since this was an AP story, it would only seem appropriate that the story is complete and un-bias.
The story can be found here:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/environment/2008-09-27-algae-energy_n.htm
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2 comments:
The title got me too. The content of this piece is what really hooked me though. I had never before heard of the farming of algae or its possible use for fuel amongst airline companies.
The fact that I wasn't confused by the content is a credit to the reporter. You're right, they did a good job in my opinion of leaving no holes for the reader.
I thought the quotes added real color the the article too, besides simply supporting the weigh of it. I think this article is a great example of showing how you can use your sources to say things, without interjecting yourself into the piece as well.
I've written a few articles about algae-to-fuel conversion in the past. I must say that my sources informed me that the price tag is still prohibitively high. Unlike the sources in this piece, they seemed to think large-scale production will not be feasible in five years.
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