Newspaper reporting revisited

The newspaper has the duty to report the FACTS. The facts are that three men are dead.The newspaper can't determine the cause. That is up to the police investigators.

Heck, it could be they all ate poisoned food for lunch. We don't know, and the reporter is not going to guess, either.

What is your objection to how this story was reported?

Punk as a Journ School grad and erstwhile writer I couldn’t disagree more strongly. A competent reporter might have added:

“Although the exact cause of death is not yet known, investigators speculate that they may have succumed to toxic paint fumes. However, they cannot explain how this could have occurred without at least one of the painters detecting an odor, then warning his co-workers.

“However Captain Fosdick Framistxat, the officer in charge, says that at least one toxic solvent recently banned long ago for use as a thinner is odorless, causing unconsciousness almost instantly, speculating that their paint might have been acquired from an outdated lot.

‘One investigator notxed that because they had just returned from lunch that their demise might owe to food poisoning. ‘However,' he added, 'it’s unlikely to have acted so suddenly.' "

If he does his job right doesn’t have to guess, as above

Inadequate background and detail leaving reader with nagging questions

Consider it a deadline story or something hot off the wire. Those tornadoes that came through Michigan after 5 p.m. the other day got a one column story in the next day's edition. The day after that, it filled the entire front page.

Perhaps a reporter will be given a real investigative writing assignment later when all the facts are in. Your "quotes" assume that those people could talk to the press that day.

Could be. If it happens we’ll let you know

A tornado usually has few if any puzzling aspects but if it did, in order to assure the reader it’s not a typo or misuse of the language the reporter ought to at least address his inability to explain it:

“Witnesses reported that the victim’s face was bright red with green stripes but investigators were not immediately able to comment on the strange phenomenon"

Here’s another example Punk in a recent Daily Press story:

“…spirit-infused language that is helping Santorum connect…..Yet, in one of the more puzzling developments among many in the GOP, he’s nowhere near as successful with his fellow Roman Catholics.”

Note that the reporter admits the puzzlement factor; though he does explain,

“Religious identity is not as much of a consideration for Catholic voters as..other faiths,”

…...implying he doesn’t know why this should be either. The trick as a reporter is to reread the clip, imagining oneself to be a subscriber

As I said, Deng, it’s understandable since most tornadoes are alike. But if one of them had been observed as upside down with a huge foot-like object sticking out the top of the funnel, which itself was reported as yellow with green stripes, don’t you suppose even the initial report might have noted said observations

Or "at least,” speculated Olgatown Sheriff Roger Diddick, “it is suspected that all 81 witnesses, in spite of differing locations, must have been under the influence of a common substance