The article from the New York Times is titled “More Alzheimer’s Risk for Hispanics, Studies Suggest.” The link follows: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/us/21alzheimers.html?ref=us
The lede was typical of a soft news story because it focuses on a person instead of discussing an event. “Antonio Vasquez was just 60 when Alzheimer’s disease derailed him.”
The first graf discusses how this happened in Vasquez’s life and two other victims of the disease. It sets up the article talking about the horrors of Alzheimer’s and establishes a personal familiarity between the reader and the subjects.
The second graf goes on to talk about the susceptibility of Hispanics to developing Alzheimer’s.
The nut graph is a quote from the president of the Natonal Hispanic Council on Aging. “This is the tip of the iceberg of a huge public health challenge,” said Yanira L. Cruz, president of the National Hispanic Council on Aging. “We really need to do more research in this population to really understand why is it that we’re developing these conditions much earlier.” This sets up the narrative to give more details about what the causes may be. Low income or something called “cultural dislocation” puts this group at greater risk for dementia, as well as diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and hypertension.
More stories about victims of the disease follow this part of the narrative. Quotes from them and family paint a grim picture of the effects of the disease. Following this, the author discusses the actual study and what has been uncovered. It uses quotes from doctors explaining some of the risk factors and the evidence supporting them. The kicker is a series of quotes again about the victims and their struggles.
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