Piece Comment

Review of Black Tension


There is interesting information here, but the structure of the story defeats it. Points are raised, but there does not seem to be an effort to link them together. As a result, the story is sort of all-over-the-place -- They cut hair. They speak their native language. They come from Liberia. Black Americans say they don't like them. Affirmative Action should be reserved for people who were once slaves. Until about 2 minutes in, I wasn't even sure what this story was about. It might help for the reporter to put a thesis much nearer the top. It needn't be in her words. She seems to have enough experts to say whatever point it is she's trying to get across. Also, the pacing of the story is very languid. It could do with some tightening. On a technical point, natural sound pops in at 2:37 for no reason.

If this piece was about 2 minutes shorter and more tightly written, it could serve to address some very important issues.