In the New York Times, there was an article titled “Caffeine and Alcohol Drink Is Potent Mix for Young” by Abbey Goodnough that particularly caught my eye. If you haven’t noticed lately, the beverage company “Four-Loko” has been receiving a great deal of press lately. Apparently, these beverages contain toxic amounts of alcohol in combination with caffeine, and numerous teens across the country have been hospitalized from consuming them. There has also been a large debate on the packaging, with its bright colors and fruity flavors, is targeted directly at the American youth. For this particular article, I chose to focus on the quotations. One of my earliest journalistic observations has been that quotes can make or break an article, as well as shape a pieces voice and bias. Trusting the author is simply not enough, legitimate sources are necessary to validate the information in an article. Furthermore, I believe that an article should have a wide array of sources from different perspectives and professions to make an article more multifaceted. For example, in Goodnough’s piece, she has a quotation from a doctor in Pennsylvania, a congressman of New York, a college president, the co-founder of the corporation that sponsors Four-Loko, an Attorney General in Washington, and several student testimonies. The article is filled with factual data from medical professionals, yet is counteracted by quotations such as these- “You can get drunk for $5 all night,” said Christine Binko, a junior at Boston University who said she had noticed Four-Loko cans littering streets near campus on weekends. “But I definitely think it brings out the aggression in people.” I think this method of using a diverse selection of sources, for instance combining the commentary of professionals with the “man on the street” perspective is an effective way to clarify a pressing issue.
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