Harris begins the segment with dialogue to grab the attention of his audience. "I didn't eat enough to have my stomach get that big. Some people thought I was pregnant" explains the school teacher in the first few seconds of the newscast. Harris continues with his report introducing Mr. and Mrs. Minter's issue at hand: colon cancer. The report continues to explain background information up to the point where the couple stands now.
Throughout the piece, Harris switches between past and present tense in describing the couple's struggle through Mrs. Minter's diagnosis and treatment. Typically in writing, it is favorable to stay consistent throughout the work with one tense, but in this script, the inconsistency is effective. When talking about the couple's past, Harris uses verbs like had, asked, gave, and was, and when describing the couple's present situation, verbs such as pays, looking, celebrates, lives, and is are used.
For the most part, Harris maintains an active voice only slipping into passive phrases once or twice. This script would be more powerful if he used statements such as "The insurance company charged her..." rather than "She was charged... by the insurance company.
To wrap it up, Harris ends with another sample of dialogue urging congress to focus less on the division of parties and more on families that need healthcare reform. The closing of this newscast is compelling and leaves a lasting impression on the audience.
This piece maintains the audience's interest with an engaging lead and closing. It also had a generally consistent, concise, and informative body and is a newscast worthy of being described as greatly effective.
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