Every week, I shine the spotlight on some of the best storytelling in the business and offer my comments. “3 Great Stories of the Week” will post every Monday at 8 AM.
Putin’s friend profits in purge of schoolbooks (11/1/14, New York Times): The day after this article was published, it ranked among the most viewed stories on NYTimes.com.
And it should have. This is the type of hard-hitting, well-researched journalism that is claimed by so many to be missing.
New York Times writers Jo Becker and Steven Lee Myers present a sobering situation taking place in Russia: the country’s Ministry of Education and Science has cut more than half of the 14 million books allowed to be used in school, with one lone exception: a publishing house, Enlightenment, whose newly appointed chairman once worked very closely with President Vladimir Putin.
The whole article is fascinating, but the most powerful paragraph comes early on:
“The country is now run by a few families, or clans, close to Putin,” said one publisher, who like many others spoke only on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. “They used to focus on the very biggest businesses: oil, gas, big infrastructure projects, the banks. But now that they have eaten all the food in that cupboard, they are eating the mice, and the mice’s food, going after smaller and smaller markets.”
Times Square (10/27/14, Big Picture): If you have ever set foot in Times Square, you have likely learned immediately of its uniqueness.
Where else in the world can you find such a combination of so many social forces? In one several-block stretch, commercialism competes with spirituality, everyday activity occurs against a backdrop of spectacle, and giant skyscrapers tower over thousands of comparatively tiny New Yorkers and visitors.
Don’t believe me? Check out this photo album.
Leave it to the Big Picture to compile some of the finest Times Square photos from the past two years and present them in a way that shows the area’s singular versatility. Nearly each snapshot features a fascinating duality.
Knox County man builds backyard roller-coaster — again (10/29/14, WTHR-TV): I will say it simply: this story is one of the finest TV features I have seen in a long time.
The “plot” is simple, summed up in the above headline. A rural Indiana man has gained worldwide fame for a roller-coaster he built in his own backyard. Most stations might assign a reporting crew to tell the story in 90 seconds; it might make a nice feature but then fade from memory quickly afterwards.
Not this station, and not this story.
Reporter Kevin Rader and photographer Steve Rhodes put an extraordinary amount of care into this piece, and it shows in every loving touch. They reveal a new layer of the story every minute, and they present their subject, named John Ivers, in the context of both his creation (the roller-coaster) and his community.
I challenge you to watch this and not crack a smile.
Have a suggestion for “3 Great Stories of the Week”? E-mail me at matt@tellingthestoryblog.com.