[Readings: 01] Profiles

The Biggest Little Man in the World

http://www.gq.com/sports/profiles/201004/manny-pacquiao-boxer

Perhaps it is the writer’s Andrew Corsello’s style, but what distinguished the article “The Biggest Little Man in the World” from the other profiles of Manny Pacquiao that I have read was the active participation of the writer in the story. We all, by default, know who Pacquiao is, where he came from, what he does, who hangs around him. However, “the Person” rarely discloses during interviews, and we feel the exasperation of Corsello in trying to discover more about the Filipinos’ favorite son. The writer then narrated the events surrounding the mystery that is Pacman as they unfold during Corsello’s stay in the country covering. The writer was able to paint the image of Pacquiao as the Eye of the storm: strange, mysterious. By the end of the article, the readers would share the same sentiment of seeing Pacman as a puzzle not easily deciphered, and perhaps will never be. Previous profiles of Pacquiao told the same things about him as an athlete, the poverty he experienced when he was younger, his other endeavors aside from boxing. But this article contextualized Pacquiao’s actions in a Third World country where “karaoke is serious fucking business,” the side of him rarely seen or perhaps rarely understood, the things the people around him do, the way the Filipinos as a whole revere him. I would have liked to do the same thing should I profile Pacquiao as well. But since the article focused more on getting the views and information from the people in Team Pacquiao, I would have tried getting the perspective of his wife and immediate family.

Author Nicholas Carr: The Web Shatters Focus, Rewires Brains

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/05/ff_nicholas_carr/

For one thing, the article is based on scientific findings and therefore very informative. But what makes the article worth reading is the subject itself—virtually everybody within the same socio-economic and scholastic classification has accessed and utilized the Internet. Therefore, the readers can more or less relate. However, considering the “grade four rule” in journalism, the article still used jargons and technical terms about the human brain processes and the Internet. Apart from the writing style, the article basically invested on the topic which every writer must always strive to get. I think the strongest point of the article in getting the message across is the imagery used. Picturing information as water, the brain’s long-term memory as a bath tub, and the immediately-used short-term memory as a thimble used to transfer the water to the bath tub was effective. The writer also worked to relate the scientific and complicated findings to everyday activities (clicking the “Check for New Mail” button for example) and the long-term consequences of dependence on the Internet. But of course, writer Carr also made it a point to present not only the gloomy side of the scientific findings on the computer but also the benefits it could do to our cognitive functioning. If I would also write the article, I think it would suffice to just simplify the terminologies and include more easily understandable imageries.

The Networker

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/07/05/100705fa_fact_auletta

I have read probably only a couple of The New Yorker profiles and “The Networker” is indeed an example of a well-researched and comprehensive profile, staying true to form. The article has distinct parts, such as describing how Saad Mohseni is at work, the history of hi family’s media empire in Afghanistan, some sort of a biography of the subject and his family, the state of the media in the country before and during the Moby Group’s proliferation, the impact on politics and the nation as whole of the kind of media Mohseni practices, and even future plans. The article described the contexts and characters well, and utilized quotes effectively. However, the article is not just a “praise release.” It was able to show not only the good side of Mohseni but also the dubious one as well, like his political biases that affected how the news was packaged on the media organization he is the head of. I think the article is already in top-shape, being able to present comprehensive data about the Mohseni and what makes him worth profiling. The quotes were sufficient; the people interviewed were relevant to keep the article moving forward. It would be more interesting, though, to have interviewed all of Saad Mohseni’s siblings since their participation in developing the company was already given light I the article.

Oprah Talks to Ellen DeGeneres

http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/Oprah-Interviews-Ellen-DeGeneres-Ellens-O-Magazine-Cover/1

I have read quite a number of articles which present the topic in the form of interview transcription, alternating quotes of the interviewer and the interviewee. This one of Ellen DeGeneres with an introduction by Oprah talked about what’s “exciting” and “interesting” about DeGeneres. Like what a good profile does, the article would interest the reader even if they have no clue who the interviewee is. I think the format that the writer, Oprah, adapted was good enough because the quirks and remarks of DeGeneres would be lost if the statements were paraphrased. Both intelligent women viewed to have lead successful lives, the two women seemed to have established rapport as interviewer and subject, and the readers can relate to their ideas and sentiments. The imagery, as in the bird freed from the cage, was able to be utilized from beginning to the end. The limit of this kind of profiling is that the information would only be based on what the subject has to say, and no other sources. If I were to write this article about DeGeneres, it would be interesting and worth interviewing the other people who knows her and can provide other angles or simply supplement what DeGeneres herself has said in “our” interview.