Driving home last night I heard a startling radio story on "Marketplace," which follows "All Things Considered" on our local public radio station.
The subject itself--"marriages of convenience" between US military and spouses who may not even know each other but hook up to split bennies (off-base housing, dependent health care)--came as a surprise. Hadn't heard about that one.
But what made it even more impressive was the reporter, a young woman named Sophie Simon-Ortiz, a staffer for Youth Radio, billed as "a station created by young people training for careers in media."
Now this may be old news to everyone else, but it was the first time I'd heard about this scam. The story used some unnamed sources, including one military "wife" who described marrying a soldier at a Vegas chapel; the honeymoon was breakfast at an IHOP.
But it also featured well-balanced reporting: a Navy spokesman who bemoaned the situation but said the fraud was tough to crack, and a veteran of Iraq and
Afghanistan who chose not to go the marriage route but understands why
others might take advantage of the system.
It got me wondering if it took a young person to find and get people to talk about their involvement in the fraud. MSM is so worried about demographics. Stories and reporters like Ms. Simon-Ortiz make me feel confident the next generation can produce stories just as good as the boomers who are doing the job now.
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