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Lin Peng

ENC 3351

Deborah Weaver

June 3, 2013

John Branch, a sports reporter for The New York Times, was awarded the 2013 Pulitzer

Prize for Feature Writing for “his evocative narrative about skiers killed in an avalanche and the

science that explains such disasters, a project enhanced by its deft integration of multimedia

elements (“John Branch”)” in his Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek publication. After

the avalanche in February, The New York Times had a front-page article about the recent spate of

avalanche deaths, particularly among expert skiers (The New York Times). However, Joe

Sexton, sports editor, pointed out the potential of retelling the story in a more powerful yet

narrower way to Branch (The New York Times), in hope of delivering various perspectives of

the same event. As a result, the publication attracted many readers and viewers, making this story

newsworthy. The question is what makes Snow Fall an award-winning publication and why is

Snow Fall significant or newsworthy? In this present paper, we will explore in depth as to what

makes Snow Fall a newsworthy and recognizable story to its readers and viewers. We will also

explore what sets Snow Fall apart from other publications that also use the incorporation of

multimedia.

What makes a story newsworthy? There are several aspects that can make a story

newsworthy: timeliness, significance, proximity, prominence, human interest, conflict, and

unusualness ("What Makes a Story Newsworthy?"; Irene, 2010). However, in this paper, we will

look at the three main aspects that have allowed Snow Fall to gain its recognition from three

million-plus readers and viewers (Schulten, 2013). Those three aspects are human interest—

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appealing to emotions, prominence—involving well-known people such as athletes or celebrities,

and unusualness—grabbing the media’s attention with something unusual (Irene, 2010).

People like to read about other people, especially when the story is relatable causing an

emotional impact to the readers. In Snow Fall, Branch used the appeal of pathos to recreate the

entire event from start to end. By utilizing well-constructed diction, language, examples, and

images, he was able to bring all sixteen characters alive within the story. For every character, he

provided a detailed-description of their background and personality. For instance, Chris Rudolph

was a 30 year-old director of marketing at Stevens Pass. “Rudolph was the oldest of three

children raised in California’s Bay Area by outdoors-minded parents.... Rudolph peppered his

language with words like ‘rad’ and ‘stoked.” But he was not simple-minded ski bum (Branch,

2012). The use of diction inflected different intonations in the chosen words such as “rad” and

“stoked.” Readers who are familiar with the Californian jargon are able to relate and inflect such

intonations while reading. Thus, readers are able to endure a close-knit of emotional appeal to

Rudolph’s personality. In addition, readers are able to envision Rudolph’s personality, an open-

minded, ambitious, cool, hipster-like person. Another well-descriptive character was the head

judge of the Freeskiing World tour, Jim Jack. “At 46, he was a sort of Pete Pan of the ski world,

a charismatic, carefree boy who never grew up, beloved by like-minded skiers and snowboarders

half his age (Branch, 2012).” Branch was able to paint a picture of Jack’s personality by using a

descriptive language that pinpoints exactly who Jack was, and even how his face was like after

the falling accident. “…shattering the bones around his right eye. You could feel the screws

when you touched his face,” the use of diction in this quote invoked an unpleasant view and feel

of Jack’s face, resulting in an effective appeal to readers’ emotions.

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Using the technique of appealing to readers’ emotions, Branch was also able to bring the

avalanche, nature’s subtlest force, alive. In part three “Descent Begins,” Branch described the

four different types of natural forces: hurricane—foretold by wind and lashing waves, tornado—

spotted before it strikes, lightning—presaged by black clouds and rumbling thunder, and

avalanches—triggered by their own victims (Branch, 2012). Followed by his description of the

four natural forces was a direct quote from Elyse Saugstad, “If you swim out in the ocean, the

ocean’s always alive… You can feel it. But the mountains feel like they’re asleep.” In this short

example, pulled from the section “Descent Begins,” shows how powerful the use of diction and

its language is. Readers can envision the four natural forces based off of Branch’s description

and the support of Saugstad’s quote.

Prominent people such as athletes, political figures, or celebrities often draw attention

based on their reputations and prominence. Snow Fall was able to attract a high level of media

attention because of the prominence of the sixteen characters. They were all well-known skiers,

snowboarders, and members of the organization—Powder Magazine. Participants of the 2012

Tunnel Creek Avalanche included professional competitive skiers, snowboarders, and members

of the Freeskiing media, reporters, and a photographer from Powder Magazine. As a result, the

prominence of the sixteen characters was not only significant to the backcountry community, but

also the local and worldwide skiing and snowboarding community.

The most significant aspect that has made Snow Fall newsworthy is the unusualness of

the structure and format of the publication, itself. The unusualness of the publication’s structure

and format stems from the unique incorporation of multimedia including videos, photos, and

graphics. The use of multimedia is what sets Snow Fall apart from other publications or the

standard words-on-page article. Snow Fall surpassed the standards of a typical New York Times

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article. “ It was called ‘truly fantastic,’ a ‘beautiful’ integration of video, photos, and graphics

‘that makes multimedia feel nature and useful,’ the ‘best designed big Web story ever’ and even

‘the future of Web storytelling (Schulten, 2013).” The structure of Snow Fall is set up as a multi-

chapter series of the entire experience from Stevens Pass to Tunnel Creek. Readers were

naturally transitioned in and out of the videos, photos, and graphics without any detour because it

was all in a consistent, narrative flow. The multimedia in Snow Fall is embedded within the story

compared with the multimedia in a typical New York Times article that have the videos or photos

set up on the side bar. Branch and other collaborators have seamlessly tied the entire story

together with text and multimedia, providing a natural narrative flow. The importance of Snow

Fall is the leap it has taken from a typical structure to an unusual structure of a journalistic

article. In order to create a more significant impact on its readers, this particular publication has

opened a new door to the world of journalism.

Branch’s Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek had break through the standard

format and structure of how journalistic publications should be. Snow Fall provided a new

approach in designing and narrating a typical journalistic report. Branch has recreated the story

using sixteen various perspectives from the characters. More importantly, he brought the story

alive with the use of pathos or human interest, characters’ prominence, and multimedia.

Although, the sixteen characters are only prominent within the world of skiing and

snowboarding, the other two aspects filled in the gap of making this article newsworthy.

Factoring in the other two aspects of human interest and multimedia, readers outside of the

skiing and snowboarding community were able to find out the significance and prominence of

the characters. The aspect of human interest invoked readers’ emotions by using relatable

language and by producing powerful pictures through words, videos, and photos. The aspect of

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the incorporation of multimedia connected the story into one coherent piece, delivering an

award-winning publication. As a result, Snow Fall is a beautifully presented online-storytelling

with the incorporation of its unique design and its brilliant narration.

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Works Cited

Branch, John. "Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek." The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 12 Dec. 2012. Web. 3 June 2013.

Irene, Linda. "It's All Write." Its All Write. Wordpress, 19 Sept. 2010. Web. 03 June 2013.

"John Branch." The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 03 June 2013. Web. 03 June 2013.

Schulten, Katherine. "Reading Club | ‘Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek’." The Learning Network Reading Club Snow Fall The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek Comments. The New York Times Company, 2 Jan. 2013. Web. 03 June 2013.

The New York Times. "Q. and A.: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek." New York Times 12 21 2012, n. pag. Print. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/22/sports/q-a-the-avalanche-at-tunnel-creek.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0>.

"What Makes a Story Newsworthy?" What Makes a Story Newsworthy? N.p., n.d. Web. 03 June 2013.