2.5 Evaluation of Magazine Stories

    The listed News Magazines included surprisingly few articles about the Middle East. Maybe that's because I always skip to the "World" section and expect the quagmire of a region to be front and center. There were some great retrospectives for the anniversary of the Arab Spring, but they weren't the stories I was looking for. I dug a little deeper and focused on a New Yorker story about John Kerry and a Time video essay about the Greek coastguard. 

Barry Blitt, 2016

US Dimplomacy Struggles in the Middle East

   The New Yorker article, "Negotiating the Whirlwind," focuses on John Kerry's achievements and failures while Secretary of State. Kerry, 72, is portrayed as a "tirelessly optimistic," intelligent and hardworking public servant doing his best to clean up the mess that the Middle East has become.

    The most negatively portrayed villain of this story isn't Assad, ISIS, or Netanyahu (not that the author does him any favors.) Instead, it's George W. Bush. He's only mentioned in the first few paragraphs of the article, but is described as lazy and corrupt. The author implies that he rigged polling stations in Ohio during the 2004 election and refers to him as "the worst President of the modern era."

Alkis Konstantinidis. "Refugee Family in Kos." December, 2015

Unexpected Heroes of Kos

    The Time article includes a brief report of the most recent migrant boat to capsize off of the Greek coast, killing 25 people. It's a short and concise news story, but it also includes a video about life in the Greek coastguard.


     Every night, search for and try to convince refugees to get off their plastic boats and board their vessel for a safer passage, but many refugees would rather navigate the rocky shores in the middle of the night than risk being sent back before reaching European soil.

    The coastguard members are portrayed as everyday heroes who stepped up to the plate when their ordinary jobs changed drastically. None of them signed up for this stressful job, but they adapted very well and save hundreds of lives every day. We can all see a little bit of ourselves in these men and only hope to be as great as them.