What is Context?

Ok, so when you read an article online, how often does the writer put something in context? For example (and this one is easy to understand), how many brave men and women have died in Iraq defending our freedom? Now how many died in the few months we were involved in World War I? How about Vietnam? Most writers don't want people to hear that the Iraq War has had so few casualties because then it wouldn't mean as much. For more information regarding this idea, please read Larry Elder's piece at Townhall.com since he does put this into context.

Ok, now onto another example, this one less controversial. So in article on the Detroit Red Wings signing star Pavel Datsyuk to a new deal, the story ends with this sentence.

"Detroit needs one more point to secure its third consecutive Western Conference title and first in the post-Yzerman era."

Umm....context might be nice. When you read that, what does it sound like? (Sorry, they mentioned Yzerman in the preceding paragraph but it doesn't make a difference to the point I am making.) It sounds like Detroit had been really good with Yzerman, winning the conference, but not after he retired. But that isn't true. You see, this is the FIRST season without Yzerman. This sentence is poorly written and actually makes the wrong assertion. A better form would have been something like "secure its third consecutive Western Conference title in its first post-Yzerman season." That would have shown the same thing, the team is still winning, but without making it seem like they had lost without Yzerman before. (Yes, I do realize that it has the words "third consecutive," but many might read over that since those words are buried in the sentence and right before capitalized words, both things that make words seem less important.)

Is it hard for writers to put ideas in context? I don't know. I have never written an article. But you know what, I also have never cooked a goose and it doesn't seem like a chef on the Food Network would miss an ingredient. Being a professional means being competent. Just as the chef should be able to read a recipe so too should a reporter know how to put things in context for readers.

2 teaspoons or 2 tablespoons, it doesn't matter......