Sob stories generally don’t make for good journalism, since they typically emphasize raw emotion over objective fact.
Still, if you’re going to try to manipulate an unsuspecting public with some tale of woe, at least choose a sympathetic figure as your main character.
How even major news outlets keep violating this rule of creative writing 101 is beyond me.
The New York Times recently published what is clearly meant to be a tear-jerker, highlighting the supposed human cost of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts. Except that the paper of record tried to portray as a sympathetic character an illegal immigrant who killed a man. Amazingly, it doesn’t end there. Romeo Perez-Bravo has additional victims, including those who’ve suffered the consequences of his theft, drunk driving, and repeated illegal border crossings.
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