Controversial Listicle Nominated for Pulitzer Prize
’10 Ways to Get Nominated for a Pulitzer’ Nominated for a Pulitzer
The Pulitzer Prize board has confirmed that the listicle, ’10 Ways to Get Nominated for a Pulitzer,’ is itself a nominee for the coveted Pulitzer Prize in Journalism. The listicle was originally published on GeoCities but was picked up by the author’s cousin at the New York Post, appearing in the Post’s vaunted Sunday Gardening Supplement.
At a press conference today, Pulitzer board president Ryan Gosling began by indicating that he was not that Ryan Gosling, then went on to confirm that the board would stand by its decision to allow the nomination to move forward. “I grant you that portions of the piece such as, ‘Write a news article’, ‘Write a good one,’ and ‘Make sure your name is spelled correctly,’ are self-evident. But there are other items, such as ‘Marry into the Pulitzer family,’ which add a human-interest dimension to the piece fundamental to good reporting.”
Journalists in attendance were at times antagonistic, with some asking whether the nomination at last exposed the seedy underbelly of the board’s dealings. Gosling strenuously denied having an underbelly, seedy or otherwise, and added that the board’s nomination processes were transparent and well established. When it was suggested that bad reviews for Green Lantern had imbittered Gosling to the press, Gosling reiterated that he was not that Ryan Gosling, that Green Lantern was actually Ryan Reynolds, and that the listicle would be judged on its own merits.
Gosling was firm in the face of press insistence that a listicle is not news reporting. “Not everything can be a Teapot Dome, a Watergate or a Brangelina,” Gosling stated. “But you can still have a hard-hitting expose that’s broken into easy-to-follow increments which can be read while waiting for your Nespresso to brew. We must remember that listicles have, in fact, a storied history in the arts and press, and should not be discounted merely because they make excellent clickbait.”
‘Listicle’ derives from Liszticle, the term used by friends and colleagues for the weekly advice letters received from the nineteen century Hungarian composer Franz Liszt. A prolific correspondent, Liszt sent up to a dozen letters a day, on topics ranging from music theory to plumbing. He also worked his penchant for itemizing into his music, in ways that persist today — when played backwards, his famous Hungarian Rhapsody offers 12 tips for better sheep shearing.
From Liszt’s time, the listicle has migrated from letters to music to almanacs to magazines and back to almanacs — only to experience a twenty-first century resurgence on the internet. There it remains as the shortest distance between a topic and avoiding writing a well-researched essay about it.
In his remarks, Gosling sought to find unity between the board and reporters. “Look, we live in a time of boutique news sourcing, where readers can choose news outlets which, in turns, may outrage or thrill them, but will always be in agreement with them. These outlets increasingly cut into the public’s news time and the public’s consciousness, to the detriment of traditional new sources and, ultimately, of our ability as a society to consider alternative points of view. We must not let that narrowness be the measure by which we define news itself. Rather, I believe that practitioners of traditional news craft, and by extension the Pulitzer board, are committed to expanding the concepts and qualities of news, to reach present and future generations of readers with factual, substantive reporting. Are there any other questions?”
Gosling was then asked if he felt his appearance in The Notebook had harmed his career. He again reminded those present that he was not that Ryan Gosling, but added that it was a significant role in the development of a body of work which now spans decades.
