How New Journalism Changed Reporting
Small changes can make a big difference
My first writing career was as a newspaper reporter. That was back a while ago when journalism had a very narrow focus:
Who, what, where, when and how….and maybe why. There was not a lot of creativity when it comes to straight reporting. Then, “New Journalism” was invented:
“New Journalism is an American literary movement in the 1960s and ’70s that pushed the boundaries of traditional journalism and nonfiction writing. The genre combined journalistic research with the techniques of fiction writing in the reporting of stories about real-life events. The writers often credited with beginning the movement include Tom Wolfe, Truman Capote, Hunter S. Thompson and Gay Talese.” https://www.britannica.com/topic/New-Journalism
The impact was major. It gave some journalists a chance to be more creative in their reporting. New Journalism revolutionized reporting by blending traditional journalistic rigor with literary techniques, aiming to create more immersive, engaging, and detailed storytelling. New Journalism abandoned strict objectivity, instead encouraging journalists to inject their own perspective, voice, and sometimes even personality into their work.
