Critique My Classmate's News Story!

I would link Mary's website, but I don't think she has one at this time of writing!

Mary's Story

Anne Applebaum discusses political leadership, conspiracies, and her new book, “Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authorianism,” with Davird Frum.

The two Atlantic staff writers met remotely over Zoom as part of a Writers Bloc Presents event hosted on Tuesday July 28 2020. Applebaum is a Pulitzer Prize winning historian, while Frum is a former speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush.

Frum begins by jokingly asking Applebaum why she did not title her book what he suggested. She reveals that because of the abstract nature of the book, her American and European publishers actually argued about the title. This quickly descends into a discussion of the many themes Applebaum’s book covers.

One recurring idea is the role of politicians, journalists, and other public figures not considering themselves to be a part of elite society. They enable authoritarian and nationalist parties out of resentment. Applebaum uses the head of Polish state television as an example. Despite beginning his career as anti-communist, he now fills Polish homes with propaganda, while his brother, who was publicly more successful, runs the liberal newspaper.

“There is a pattern of people feeling unaccepted or outside, or not liking the leadership for which they come from and therefore wanting to attack it or overthrow it or undermine it,” Applebaum said. “Very famously, if you look back at the biographies of radical revolutionaries over time, starting with Lenin, you very often find this pattern.”

The writers also discuss the role of conspiracy theories in creating divided politics. Both Frum and Applebaum highlight the illogical nature of these theories by breaking down the belief that President Obama was not born in America. The idea that his heavily pregnant, young, single mother saved up enough money to fly by private plane to Kenya in order to secretly birth her baby, while simultaneously arranging a fake birth announcement by the hospital in Hawaii is laughable to both of them. Applebaum explains people cling to these theories because it creates the sense that they belong to a tribe. People may have different fears about immigration, the future of the country, or their children growing up differently than them, but they are united with others under this broader belief.

As the talk continues, Applebaum takes a turn asking questions to Frum before the formal nature of the interview breaks down. Both writers reflect on what current political divides and the abundance of misinformation available means for the future of American politics.

Frum hopes that the coronavirus will be a turning point. He hopes that Americans will look back and wonder why they listened to so many “crackpots.” He thinks that Americans will learn from other countries who had stronger leadership.

“Maybe if people had more of a sense of social belonging, and reason to trust, and believed that powerful and important people actually cared about them, they might be more willing to listen,” Frum said.

My critique

I liked the beginning set up of your story, giving us quick fast facts on what happened, when it happened, etc. The primer on Applebaum and Frum gave us a little insight to what kind of topics they would talk about during Applebaum’s book interview. Organizing it chronological order was also smart – it kept the flow going from the beginning to the end. That way the story ended with a clear closing (like with the quote from Frum that you gave). Overall, your story was very concise and captured lots of the details of the interview. It was very fleshed out and I felt like I had a great grasp on Applebaum’s views from her book.

One suggestion for improving the piece is a bit nitpicky (and probably an AP Press style guid : using past tense for the news story. In addition, I think what could help the story flow even better is if you implemented short section headers. Almost like transition words, but instead they would cordon off paragraphs from each other, so the entire story doesn’t feel necessarily too long. Another observation is that sometimes there are details that I read but didn’t get enough information on. For example, the first paragraph discusses book name suggestions from Frum, but doesn’t say what they are, so the leading sentence felt out of place. Lastly, one detail I was a little confused was the topic of the fourth paragraph – not sure how the first sentence leads to the second.