The best views aren't just from the penthouse

Kai Ryssdal of Marketplace offered a segment, carried on many public radio stations, about the financial crisis that, as one listener commented, “brought the issues to a more understandable, personal level.”

Today’s Tip: Add a micro dimension to make macroeconomic stories more useful for your audience.

For this Lehman Bros. anniversary piece, Kai focused on people at both ends of the financial spectrum: Millicent “Mama” Hill, whose Los Angeles home was foreclosed upon after she took out a subprime loan she couldn’t repay, and John Chrin, a former Wall Street executive turned college instructor. Then, to provide context, he added in experts on the financial crisis, the psychology of financial decision-making and the financial trust index.

“Excellent, excellent piece,” wrote listener Zaid Hassan of Austin, Texas. “Spellbinding to be reminded that, in the end, it really is just a piece of paper,” Hassan said, referring to the central thesis of the report: Without trust in the financial system, a dollar is really just a piece of paper.