Investigative Judgment

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/calculus-logging

The Calculus of Logging is the article written by Daniel Pye and May Tithara, the reporter from the Phnom Penh Post. This article was published on Friday, 10 October 2014. This article is about the case of one powerful Cambodian tycoon who committed in illegal logging in Cambodia. To me this article is a type of investigative report because of 5 reasons:

     1.     Set to find the truth to rumor (hypothesis)

     2.     Very long

     3.     A lot of research (stats, data, fact)

     4.     Has a hypothesis

     5.     Engagement by reporter

This article was set to find the truth to the rumor. Of course, the reporters as well as the writer of this article followed the rumor from people about the Mr. Try Pheap and his illegal logging action. By following up the rumor of the people and conduct investigation, the reporters can dig out the information of Mr. Try Pheap deeper and deeper until they have enough information to prove this case.

This article is very long. This article has more than 2000 words. By comparing with other feature articles, this article is more descriptive and has a lot sources and references. This proves that this article is an investigative article.

This article has a lot of fact, data and statistic to support. There are many findings and evidences in the article. With those facts and data, the whole article is very realistic and convincing. Moreover, this article is very strong and powerful base on the research and finding that the writers have provided.

This article has a clear and strong hypothesis. On the first paragraph, the writer stated a clear and strong hypothesis of the whole article, “ … one of the most country’s powerful tycoons, Try Pheap, allegedly made more than $220 million in unreported profit by illegally logging rosewood over a three-year period in the Cardamom Mountain, official figures suggest.”

This article has a lot of engagements from reporters as well as their institution, Phnom Penh Post. They spent a lot of time investigating and following the case of Mr. Try Pheap until they had enough evidences then they can write this article. On this article, the writers also wrote that “the Post followed several of Pheap’s trucks from Siem Pang to an MDS holding area nearby and also witnessed several of the trucks parked in the ground of an under-construction luxury hotel in Stung Treng town that the tycoon is building.)