Headline: ISIS Kidnapped Her 5 Years Ago. The Red Cross Thinks She May Still Be Alive.

At first when I chose to read this article, I thought that it would be something along the lines of a profile. I knew that Ms. Akavi was still missing, but I figured that it would be relaying the story of her life. Working on my profile story this week, I thought that this would be interesting to look at as if focused on one woman’s story. I realized though that this story wasn’t really that of a profile. Her story is at the focus, but there is something about the way that this story is told that is different. This story shares her life, but not with the insight that personal profiles do. I thought it was interesting how the article chronicles the shift in attitude since the decline of Isis. The article talks about how working for her freedom and keeping her identity anonymous as possible was the main goal. Now that ISIS has declined they have shifted to using her photo and actively searching for her. 

I think the thing that really worked in the story was the tone. I think that it is really easy to sensationalize a story like this. A story that has a woman who was trying to help people and ended up imprisoned. I thought that it would have been really easy to focus on how dismal her situation could be. I thought that the language the article used did describe the severity of the situation without sensationalizing it. It uses a very journalistic tone which I though really worked in this piece. I also thought that explaining the background of what happened worked really well. I liked how this story took news that was old and made it news. The fact Ms. Akavi was kidnapped by ISiS, while it is tragic is not new. I thought the fact that the article looks at how the fall of ISIS effects that situation on a personal level was really good. I think it is hard to find new angles for things that are not new but still important. 

I think that one thing that I wanted to hear more about was D. I was wondering how they got in contact with. I thought that it would have been interesting to hear more about that story. I thought that it would have been interesting to hear about how D viewed Ms. Akavi other than the fact that she said she looked old and sick. 

[I woke up this morning to a tweet that was retweeted by the New York Times that read: “I was conflicted over the years when it came to publicizing her case. These are not easy calls for journalists. In the end, I respected the wished of the @ICRC but never forgot one day I would write about Louisa. W/ @rcallimachi & @lightyouonfire”- Adam Goldman. I thought that it was interesting because 1) I swear phones listen to everything you say and I am sure that my twitter heard me talking about this article after I wrote my what works last night 2) that this was something that touched on ethics for journalism. Waiting to publish a story because of safety concerns. I really like though that the journalist waiting until it was safe without ever forgetting about the story that needed to be told.]