The success factor of the article is the uniqueness which is Mafia invested in renewable energy and the assets of the renewable company were confiscated. The investor is not any other government or organization but criminals. Why did it happen? But the crime was restrained. Sounds dramatic right? They article first gives a hook, presenting this uniqueness and then offers details of the wind farm. Following by the reason why it happened- bad policies and bad bureaucracies, as an official with the anti-Mafia association Libera Ruggiero explains it is a “new sector where there is more public money and less control”. After this, the article introduces the development of wind power in Italy.
Another important point of the article’s success is the conflict – the danger of organized crime. Mafia use clean energy to invest dirty money, turn them into clean money. This could destroy the country’s economy and energy industry and also boom the criminals. “They will twice” as Ruggiero said.
Other causes of the success are the importance and negativity of the news.
The article is put in the environment news section but not international breaking news section is because the purpose of the news is to urge the government to put emphasis on renewable energy. The article doesn’t provide much criminal details and background but analyze why it happened.
However, the picture accompanies with the article foregrounds wind turbines which invested by Mafia in the village of Patirnico. But the photo doesn’t play important role in the success of the news story as reader can not identified whether they are the ones invested by Mafia. They look just like normal wind turbines in any country.
For more details, check the website as follows:
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/energy-smart/mafia-uses-clean-energy-to-invest-dirty-money-20100916-15cxl.html
