What I’m Reading
January 22, 2020
What I’m Reading returns with three reading recommendations that range from a peek behind the curtain of reporting practices to a long-form read that unravels a gripping crime story, and an important look at the fabric of American society.
Reporting and the Importance of Earning Trust
Talking about how reporting is done is not only fascinating for journalists, it’s also crucial for a healthy relationship between journalists and the public. In times where forces are at work that try to undermine that bond by means of fake news, we must invite readers/viewers behind the scenes and into the shops of journalistic craftsmanship. Transparency about our profession is the key to ensure the public’s trust.
Trust in journalism is two-fold: to the public, as mentioned above, and to the people whose stories we tell. It’s the latter that this collection of thoughts from five photographers, published by the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung, explains.
I found this article in the process of reading and viewing a project called “Born Free: Mandela’s Generation of Hope.” It’s a project by Dutch photojournalist Ilvy Njiokiktjien. Represented by the VII agency, Ms. Njiokiktjien has spent the last 10 years documenting the first generation born after the end of apartheid. The resulting book is fascinating work, and in the process of reading more about it, I found the piece I bring to you today.
The Swiss paper asked Njiokiktjien and four other photographers how they achieved to earn the trust of the people they photographed for one of their projects. The introduction passage is written in German, but the photographers’ words on building trust are featured as English-language audio clips, and the transcripts can be read in both languages. I highly recommend having a listen.
A Long-Form Guide To Structure
“Your Honor, Can I Tell The Whole Story?” is a joy to read in many ways. It’s a tour-de-force of reporting. It’s investigative journalism that takes on a true crime story that transpired over several decades.
A murder occurs in New Orleans in 1987. There’s a witness. There’s a suspect. There’s a trial of not even one full day, with a conviction at the end. For the next 30 years, questions remain if he who got sent to prison was sentenced rightfully.
The story reconstructs the crime itself and the legal proceedings that followed. It untangles the consequences for the people that were caught in the complex web of the legal system. Besides trying to bring clarity to what really happened, the story demonstrates great care for the human element that is part of the criminal justice system.
Apart from detailing gun violence and the effectiveness of the legal system in New Orleans in the 1980s, as well as the question of solving one particular murder, writer Nick Chrastil offers a noteworthy case study for structure in long-form writing.
Chrastil packages the story in 10 neat chapters. Each follows one crucial element of the whole affair, from the criminal act itself, the police officer in charge of the investigation, the witness they found, the evidence presented to the court, the role of the judge, and the inmate who shared a cell with the convicted to the continued attempts to prove the convict’s innocence.
It’s a structure that brings clarity to a complex criminal case that spans 30 years and includes many actors. Long-form journalism by nature requires time to be enjoyed. This example is time well-spent, for the lessons it teaches us about the story itself and the craft of writing.
Journalism’s Care for Ordinary People
The final recommendation for today is a powerful, sad yet optimistic story that focuses on what really matters in the world. “Who Killed the Knapp Family?” is an excerpt from the book “Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope” by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Published in the opinion section of The New York Times, this adapted book excerpt provides a teaser for the book and a look at the underlying problems in American society. The authors bring us to the Oregonian community of Yamhill on their quest to follow a sad trend: the despair of working-class America that leads to too many untimely deaths.
This excerpt tells the sad tale of the Knapp family. What began with hopeful ambitions when the family settled in Yamhill in the 1970s has ended in the death of four out of five Knapp children.
Mr. Kristof and Ms. DuWunn untangle the fate of the Knapp family and, in doing so, make us look at the underlying problems of American society. It begins with economic pressures on lower-income workers and unemployment. What follows are the threats posed by drug and alcohol on those society blamed for being poor. Finally, there’s a justice system that combats drugs with prison time. In the process, it breaks up the remainders of the families caught in this cycle of sadness and despair.
It’s an important piece of journalism. Personally I can’t wait to get my hands on the book itself. It’s powerful, sad, but also optimistic. It’s a guidebook on reporting, writing, and journalism that focuses our attention on what really matters: ordinary people. That’s a part of journalism I’ve had a soft spot for ever since discovering the work of Joseph Mitchell, the chronicler of New York City of the early to mid-twentieth century, many years ago.
Both this excerpt and the book itself have another dimension still. Lynsey Addario’s pictures that help visualize the issue and the people involved even more. They enrich the details of the story. Help us understand and visualize. They go where words cannot. They reinforce what the words have to tell us. They convince and also tell stories of their own.
I recommend this story to anybody, for all those reasons mentioned above. It’s a story that offers something that some might miss in the regular news-cycle: the human touch in journalism.
That’s a wrap for this week’s What I’m Reading post. Next week, I’ll send you another riveting long-form story, this time about a catastrophe at sea, another take on American society by means of a photo essay, and the final story shall again remain a surprise for now. Until then, happy reading.
