By Scott McCabe
‘Lorenzo Tondo’ reported on the story for ‘The Guardian’ on April 10. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/10/mafia-distributes-food-to-italys-struggling-residents
The Headline is certainly the focal point of this article with the words ‘Mafia’ and ‘food donations’ being a rare occurence within the same sentence.
‘Tondo’ did a great job early on in the article describing where these crazy events were occurring [ Campania,Sicily,Calabria and Puglia]. In doing this, ‘Tondo’ was able to situate the reader early on in the article and give them a sense of these areas; if they’re economically deprived or tourist hot spots. ‘Tondo’ broadens the article slightly by going into the financial side of things within Italy but ties it up nicely by referring back to the mafia.
It’s clear to me that ‘Tondo’ put extensive research into this particular article as he gathered a variety of quotations from Anti-Mafia investigators to professors of criminology. The depth and variety of sources really benefited the article as it provided expert opinions on the matter. ‘Tondo’ even went as far as sourcing quotations from other newspapers such as ‘La Repubblica’.
The article was superb although, it did lack a few images; with so many quotations and information it was easy to get lost in the article and I feel as if one or two more images would’ve greatly benefited the article. However, I feel as if this is the editors fault and not Tondo’s as the effort he put into the article was clear.
I was slightly disappointed with the conclusion of the article. It’s supposed to finish on a bang and not a whimper, but Tondo’s decision to finish on a quotation and not a summary or rhetorical question was a bit of a let down.
Overall, the article was excellent in several categories; at first glance what is an uplifting story is actually deeply concerning, and Lorenzo Tondo does an excellent job of describing the consequences if the Mafia can get into power throughout poverty stricken areas.
ScottMcCabe2020 