I found this article on the Athens Banner-Herald site. I had a few concerns regarding the organization of the story because I had to read over half the story to figure out why the FBI might want to search Angel Food Ministries. The last three graphs of the story are where the writer placed the information that makes the organization's founders questionable.
I think if I were writing this story I would include in the first couple of graphs that the search was prompted because of tax records showing an astonishing jump in salaries for the Wingo family in the last year.
I also found the sixth graph unnecessary. Instead of having an entire graph that reads only: "Torossian would not comment further," I would have introduced his last quote with: "Torossian would say only..." I think that somehow combining Torossian's reluctance to give information in with his quotes would make the story flow better.
The AJC ran this story on their site. I found this story to be much more comprehensive and to include some important details that were left out of the ABH's version. Joe Wingo's sketchy background is really important to the story and the fact that he served a year in prison for extorting money from a neurosurgeon when he was previously in a position of authority was completely left out of the ABH's story.
The AJC story also included quotes from people who work with Angel Food Ministries whereas the ABH story only quoted people from the FBI and Angel Food Ministries which gives a much narrower view of the situation.
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I also wanted to highlight this quote from AJC's story...it's from a minister defending the million dollar salaries of the Wingo family: “When you are doing God’s work, you are supposed to be well taken care of." I thougt it was crafty of the writer to end the story with that quote.
ReplyDeleteLaine, I read your blog with great interest. I covered Angel Food Ministries when it began booming in the early 2000s. Check out www.waltontribune.com (I can't embed links in comments) for the local paper's coverage of the story. Very interesting. They are written by the publisher. Check out his column (Patrick Graham) that ends with him revealing his friendship with Joe Wingo. I commend him for being upfront about it, but question the ethics of a friend covering such an important story.
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, great point about the AJC story mentioning that Wingo had been arrested in the past for extortion. That is HUGE background news when the FBI raids his offices for tax documents. Good catch.