Read the article here

This news article was written by reporter Caitlin Thompson and published on Civil Beat. It talks about Gary Zamber, who is sentenced to 70 months in prison for exploiting a system meant to encourage developers to build more affordable housing from 2014 to 2021 along with three others.

The article demonstrates quality journalism as it meets a good number of elements of newsworthiness (TIPCUP), something journalists consider when coming up with a story idea and pitch. Specifically, it meets elements like timeliness, proximity (news that happens near us), impact, and human interest: many people might feel some type of way when they read about corruption cases.

The transition paragraphs provided valuable information. Many people, including myself, might wonder what changes had been made to the system to prevent fraud cases like this one in the future, how much money was pocketed, how this scheme came to light and what the judge considered when determining the sentence, etc. Thompson answered all these questions and many more in the article.

I believe the quotes used were good as well, I found myself feeling a mix of positive and negative emotions when reading through them. The judge, Zamber and Zamber’s lawyer were all quoted so Thompson probably took the time and effort to be there when the sentencing happened which gave us these wonderful, sometimes filled-with-emotions quotes. I had to reread some of the quotes because I could not believe what I had just read!