The First Family's Search for a Spiritual Connection

Tribune reporter Mark Silva reported that the Obamas attended St. John’s Episcopal Church on Easter Sunday. While he reports that this was the first step in the first family’s search for a new church home, the article does not go much deeper than simply repeating the fact that the Obama’s attended church on Easter Sunday.
The article could have benefitted from a deeper look into the history of the Church, although it is understandable that a full profile would not be appropriate because the Obamas’ have nowhere near settled on a permanent church home. However, Silva says that St. John’s Episcopal has been a place of worship for many past presidential families. A closer look into which presidents attended the church could allow for a deeper look into the church itself, avoiding the lack of a new peg.
The article obviously has a religious peg, but strays towards a political piece halfway through the article as Silva diverges from president’s church attendance to talk about the first family’s new dog and a private dinner with Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to the president. The remainder of the article returns to the original topic presented in the lead, outlining the Obamas’ trip to St. John’s Episcopal with meticulous detail.
The format of the article takes the shape of an hourglass, with the most significant news-related information at the beginning and end of the piece with timely, but unrelated details filling the gap. The traditional inverted pyramid format may have been a better choice for this piece, putting the headlining facts at the beginning and then going into details about the Church and the attendance of former presidents, rather than attempting to fill the space between the most relevant and more news-worthy information.