Holiday Reading Blog Post - Booze and babies

Author unknown from AAP. Published on the Sydney Morning Herald website.  (Life & Style). On September 9^th, 2011.

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life/booze-and-babies-20110909-1k0so.html

This is a very well written and easy to read article.  The issue is current and worthy of investigation, and appropriately includes the opinions of an expectant mother.  The article begins with a colour introduction, explaining one lady’s (Ruth Cosgrove) experience of dealing with conflicting alcohol consumption advice for pregnant woman.   This is cleverly done so that instead of the article focusing only on facts and research, a human interest touch is added making it easier for audiences (especially in particularly demographics; mothers, family members, scientists) to relate to the content and easier for the author to further convey the information.   The story delves into Ruth Cosgrove’s beliefs about drinking whilst pregnant, which includes quotes and nicely ties in with current research and studies to show both sides of the argument. 

The article highlights the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne which is launching a major study regarding what levels of safe / unsafe alcohol can be consumed by pregnant women.  This shows the authors intention of including ‘timely’ news value to her story.  The article includes quotes from the lead research professor Jane Halliday who addresses the issue of conflicting evidence from differing schools of thought on the topic.  The article appropriately follows on with information from the latest study from the University of Newcastle, to show the reality of the issue which indicates a very high percentage of women drink during pregnancy (80%).  This is a very well chosen statistic as it backs up the opinion of Ruth Cosgrove, which shows a real life example of the evidence.   The article is nicely and cleanly summed up with a quote from Jane Halliday stating the need for more research and that her project is underway to provide it.  The photo included at the top of the article is of pregnant Ruth Cosgrove holding a glass of red wine.  I believe this is a very effective graphic as it is quite confronting, and interests the reader to find out if she supports or opposes drinking whilst pregnant.