Today the New York Times published a front-page story that I think is emblematic of what’s wrong with a lot of NYT reporting. The article was “Instead of Work, Younger Women Head to School: Upgrading Their Skills Rather Than Settling for Low Pay” by Catherine Rampell. The problem with it, as usual, wasn’t that it wasn’t well-researched (it was brimming with statistics), or cogently-written (the author makes a persuasive case that yes, more young women these days are using the economic downturn as an opportunity to go back to school instead of working crappy, low-paying jobs). The problem is that the NYT seems to fundamentally downplay the importance of actually talking to the people they’re reporting on.
The article had solid evidence for what the news was: the economy sucks, good jobs are scarce, statistics are showing that a disproportionate number of young women are dropping out of the labor force.
But it also had a truly staggering, almost insulting, number of sense-makers. In total four experts were interviewed, including not one but two economists, a research director at a Chicago think thank, and the president of a community college in North Carolina. And what was the cumulative conclusion of their insights? The shocking revelation that (wait for it....) more young women are enrolling in college. Why we needed four separate experts and a comprehensive info-graphic to confirm the obvious fact that young women departing from the workforce has coincided with young women enrolling in school, is quite frankly beyond me. But thank you NYT for being so thorough.
If only if they could have been equally thorough in their coverage of real live women who are actually affected by this change. In contrast to the experts consulted, only one woman undergoing this transition (a Master’s candidate named Lauren Baker, who recently quit her job at Starbucks to go back to school) was actually interviewed for the article.
As a reader, I found this a little offensive. I understand the importance of experts, and I’m reassured to know that the New York Times has such knowledgeable sources at their disposal, I really am. But if the decisions of young women are only discussed and conjectured about at length by outside experts, while the women themselves are not being given their own voices, this is, what author Kate Zambreno would label, "a huge fucking problem", (especially given that the subject matter of this article so obviously intertwined with complex feminist issues). For shame, NYT.
But anyway, moving on. In an article published yesterday, titled Keeping Boomers Fit for Work, the Wall Street Journal reported on companies that have been making a concerted effort to keep aging workers healthy, to avoid job turnover.
The author reports that, "Duke Energy Corp. offers a special stretching program for its line technicians before they start a shift. Harley-Davidson Inc. has trainers stand ready to ice down inflammations between shifts at one of its engine plants." In contrast to the NYT article, I thought that the WSJ actually did a really good job of covering those making the news, affected by the news, as well as sense-makers.
In terms of news-makers, they interview the director of University of Michigan's Center for Ergonomics (where they have been trying to accomodate their surgeons by adapting surgical techniques that are less physically demanding), both the general plant manager and a senior health and safety specialist at Harley-Davidson, and a general manager of safety and health at the mining company Unimin.
News affected sources here include Barry Poe, a 53-year-old Duke line technician, and Orlando "Gonzo" Meza, a 52-year-old cement-truck driver for Vulcan. There are also specific details about what kinds of changes have been implemented for workers: at Unimin, workers used to have to "carry 40-pound buckets of silicate material down a narrow catwalk to reach a mixing tank, then bend over to tip the silicate into the tank. Now Unimin uses pumps to get that material into the tank", at Vulcan "Chutes used for wet concrete are now made of lighter composite materials instead of steel, reducing the weight to 27 pounds from about 48," and at Harley-Davidson trainers are stationed at on-site gyms, to "prepare exercise routines tailored to individual jobs and have ice packs available at shift change."
For sense-making the author provides an infographic from the Bureau of Labor statistics showing that in a survey of 10,000 middle-aged workers in the private sector, injuries have fallen by almost 10% in the last four years. He also speaks to Joseph Couphlin, director at the AgeLab at MIT who says that "More employers should be preparing to deal with an older, frailer work force."
Overall, I thought the second article was successful because it gave great specifics, had good sense-making, and most importantly, talked to all the right people.
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