New Journalism, Old Controversy

What is valid? What is relevant? What is trustworthy?— these are the questions we seek to answer when we assess information. Among the many non-fiction options we have to choose from, the most popular are biographies and primary sources of the information that we can trust. In the case of New Journalism, a form of non-fiction written to entertain as well as inform, authors are given a large amount of freedom in creating dialogue and internal thoughts of characters that the author himself did not witness, creating controversy that has surrounded the genre since its creation in the 1960s. This “creativity” that the authors use, however, is not full of random guesses about how conversations had proceeded or about the individuals' inner thoughts during the course of historic events; the reputable authors use hundreds of primary sources, mainly accounts of people present at the event, to generate a feeling that truly illustrates the vibe of the story being told. It is the ultimate objective of the author to create a completely reliable and non-fiction account of historic events while creating a personal attraction to relevant characters who impacted those historic events. New Journalism, in some ways, is much more revealing and useful than regular journalism because bonds can be developed with the characters that a stepped-back and overlooking journalism cannot provide; sometimes, the personal flare to the stories is what piques the interest of a much wider audience that old-fashioned journalism cannot reach.

For those who question the validity of the author's representation of what he or she thought to have happened, they need only look at the end of the book where many of the authors provide the sources for their specific detail and tone throughout the book. As in Devil in the White City, Erik Larson provides an entire section at the back of his book called, “Notes,” where he carefully walks the reader through his decision making process as well as the clarifies the sources of his information. Look only to the bibliography of the book to assess the validity of the final synthesis. If it were not for the great research and the dedicated search for every last detail, New Journalism could not survive the constant barrage of criticism that it receives. Webs so cleverly woven together with the silk of many different people need not be torn down, but utilized as a common ground for all the people of the world to cherish and understand.

Works Cited

Gabriel, Mary. “Do political ‘tell-alls’ go too far?” Editorial. CNN.com. Cable New Network, 6 Feb. 2012. Web. 6 Feb. 2012. <http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/06/opinion/gabriel-political-non-fiction/index.html?hpt=hp_c2>.