Seminar 3: The New Journalism by Tom Wolf

The New Journalism is a collection of articles in the style of new journalism put alongside an explanation of how this form developed, what characterises it and how it is influential in today’s media. It is not the traditional news report style of journalism, but more like fiction, using characterisation, description and narrative devices such as scene-setting. It was very much influenced by authors of social realism and has characterised not only journalism, but also non-fiction novels, for the last 50 years.

Some key devices include scene-by-scene reconstruction, dialogue to establish character, establishing the scene and the context which surrounds it and expressing opinion. The surroundings, characters and events are all important and in this way it dramatically breaks from the conventions of traditional ‘dispassionate reporting’ of events which relies on objectivity and brevity to avoid all biases and confusion. It also encourages the writer to interact with the subject and become actively involved in reporting it, which has become a corner-stone of modern journalism.

The novel is seen as a psychological phenomenon, an ‘obsession’ even, which captures the imagination and attention of readers and is seen as works of literary art. Therefore, it sits at the top of the literature hierarchy, as Wolf points out, before critical essays and journalism. This means that it was inevitable that these enviable qualities would be integrated into journalism to try to boost it up the hierarchy and make people see it as a valid and innovative form of literature. The 1960s saw this change happen and the notion of an article that reads like a novel was born. The novel style and its popularity were used as a device to draw in the reader and capture their interest and imagination whilst still educating them about the state of the world. One interesting point that was made in the seminar by I can’t remember who was that, if journalism can change its style, it stands to reason that it can aspire to more than the ‘slob’ of yellow journalism. However, many critics at the time argued that journalists were having ideas above their station (note that this was mainly academics!).

Wolf said that part of the reason that this new style of feature writing was so successful was because the ultimate triumph for many a feature writer was to produce and publish a novel; by using novelistic techniques, they were getting one step closer to realising their dream (although in reality it was still a long way off).
Therefore the idea of New Journalism is based on the premise that the novel is the ‘highest form of literature’, and that by breaking from tabloidization and ’scoop’ reporting, feature writers were closer to reaching the top of this hierarchy. Some have even linked the uptake of New Journalism to a form of social revolution along Marxist lines. Marx can be related to this because he formed a sort of ‘religion’ of communism which set out guidelines and rules to follow in order to create a successful society. In the same way, New Journalism has established a whole new way to approach reporting and a way to fuse techniques from a number of approaches. It has almost created its own ‘manifesto’ of writing for the people rather than the government or businesses which have vested interests.

However, it can also be argued that it has gone the other way in that the feature writer now has a lot of power to persuade, for example by picking and choosing what information to put in, what to leave out (to only show one side of the argument) and how to interpret it. This is reflected in another novelistic technique which is integral to New Journalism; not having an external narrator to explain the scene.

Another popular technique is to use aspects of relationships and personalities to create atmosphere and trigger reader’s reactions. This can be seen as innovative and also as a tool for social manipulation. By establishing scene and character, feature writing has the ability to reach reader’s emotions. By encouraging the use of imagination and setting the scene in the mind’s eye, the reader is drawn in and will be more receptive to the social ideas which are portrayed. By using dialogue (which is a common, and effective, technique), the reader feels like they are involved in the conversation and it becomes much more personal to them.

It is also controversial in that these techniques encourage the writer to take a side and to put forward their own opinions; whereas traditional news bulletins are objective and made up only of the key facts, feature writers take advantage of the opportunity to expand on this and give subjective opinions and points of view. They often set out to write a feature with the intention of changing attitudes.

This is in strong contrast to traditional news articles which are very structured and objective. They are simplified, often dry, and made up of the bare facts. While this approach is still used in traditional newspapers, feature writing has taken the world of journalism by storm and allowed for massive expansion into documentaries, magazines and blogging. We now take New Journalism techniques for granted because we have grown up with them. This style is often referred to as ‘gonzo journalism’ and includes many different areas such as investigative journalism, informative journalism and entertainment journalism. Blogging is the ultimate example of free, new journalism at work. It gives everyone in society a chance to share their views, and is often used as a form of extended conversation, with people responding to other blog posts, commenting and expanding on issues brought up by others.

Wolf also talks about competition between feature writers and the changing nature of their role in the world. New Journalism has involved in such a way, in tandem with technological developments, that nowadays anyone can claim to be a feature writer; blogging has exploded and has changed the nature of feature reporting. The whole idea of New Journalism has become an integral part of society, and my generation has grown up knowing no different (which made it sort of difficult to understand the concept as I have nothing to compare it to).

New Journalism has contributed much to today’s society, especially in the way that it sparks interest and debate where dry news articles would not necessarily make you sit up and listen, let alone take action. It encourages many different opinions and ideas and many see it as a source or ‘breeding ground’ for revolution because it is in no way controlled by government and often goes against their beliefs or decisions.

New Journalism is, therefore, literary, subjective, persuasive, manipulative and provocative. It encourages, thought, debate and action where traditional news reporting merely puts across facts. In this way, I see it as far more useful, but at the same time very dangerous if used for the wrong reasons or in damaging ways. We therefore need to achieve a careful balance. At the same time as being dangerous, I think it is very useful in encouraging us to be critical readers and not simply accept being spoon fed information and opinions.