In this chapter, Ivor Shapiro takes us through the process of using the techniques of fiction and applying them to non-fiction writing. He makes a case for how easily a feature article, in the hands of an unscrupulous person, can take a turn for the worse by enhancing the storyline, embellishing or adding to quotes, or direct fabrication of content. He refers to "the seductive similarity between writing a feature story of journalism, on the one hand, and writing a short story of fiction on the other. He even says that, as a young reporter, he was once told by his editor to "tweak" a story for a travel magazine to make it more "effective" for the reader." The specific request was to put himself in the story checking into a hotel that he (Shapiro) had never visited. The editor told him "this kind of thing was done all the time in travel pieces, 'tweaking' at little details that don't change any of the basic facts." It should make us cautious, he suggests, about being sure that our feature stories are, first and foremost,
true. Jayson Blair, a former New York Times reporter and Janet Cooke, formerly of the Washington Post (each seen above), could be considered examples of crossing an ethical line in their feature writing. Look up some background on each. Do you agree that they are examples of what Shapiro is suggesting? Why or why not? Are they alone or have there been others who exemplify the same issue?
In this chapter, Ivor Shapiro takes us through the process of using the techniques of fiction and applying them to non-fiction writing. He makes a case for how easily a feature article, in the hands of an unscrupulous person, can take a turn for the worse by enhancing the storyline, embellishing or adding to quotes, or direct fabrication of content. He refers to "the seductive similarity between writing a feature story of journalism, on the one hand, and writing a short story of fiction on the other. He even says that, as a young reporter, he was once told by his editor to "tweak" a story for a travel magazine to make it more "effective" for the reader." The specific request was to put himself in the story checking into a hotel that he (Shapiro) had never visited. The editor told him "this kind of thing was done all the time in travel pieces, 'tweaking' at little details that don't change any of the basic facts." It should make us cautious, he suggests, about being sure that our feature stories are, first and foremost, true. Jayson Blair, a former New York Times reporter and Janet Cooke, formerly of the Washington Post (each seen above), could be considered examples of crossing an ethical line in their feature writing. Look up some background on each. Do you agree that they are examples of what Shapiro is suggesting? Why or why not? Are they alone or have there been others who exemplify the same issue? 
Jayson Blair is a classic example of Shapiro's information in Chapter 10. Blair fabricated comments in his feature stories in the New York Times. He even concocted scenes for his features through his writing, along with photographs associated with his stories. Blair was even guilty of plagarism from lifting information from competing news sources.
ReplyDeleteJanet Cooke didn't quite fit the Shapiro model. Although she fabricated a story about an 8-year old child involving drugs, it doesn't fit Shapiro's description. Cooke was just a very good liar who wrote a work of fiction and tried to pass it off as a feature story. Teresa Carpenter won the Pulitizer Prize in 1981 for revealing the truth about Janet Cooke's deception.
Mishi Defoneseca wrote a bestseller account of her personal escape from the Nazis while she survived living with wolves. Her bestseller was later turned into a feature film. Defoneseca said it in her own words that described her fictional, rather that feature piece: "The book is a story," she said. "It's not true reality, but it my reality."
Shapiro indicated in Chapter 10 that there is only one categorical imperative for journalists - try hard - to tell the truth.
I think both Blair and Cooke are classic examples of what not to do in journalism. Shapiro highlights some guidelines from the Committee of Concerned Journalists. The second one stands out to me: Never decieve the audience. In both examples we see journalists crossing the line and making things up. The audience was left to believe that they were reporiting the truth. After all, they were journalists, weren't they?
ReplyDeleteI think both Blair and Cooke tried to create something that wasn't there. I feel that in feature writing, one of our biggest challenges is finding a topic that, as Dr. Silvia says, is a story, and not just an article. I'm not defending them, but I think many journalists run into this problem. We want our story to turn into some kind of movie scenario. But sometimes it doesn't happen that way.
I also think that these kinds of dilemmas come across all journalists, not just professionals. For example, when working on a possible story for this class I found a man who had a 45 year art collection and had to sell it due to failing health. I had these romantic ideas of a poor old man having to sell all his treasured collectibles. In reality he was a multimillionaire who owned an auction company and wanted to sell his inventory. He seemed really money-oriented, which clashed with the vision I had of a man needing to sell his artwork to pay for medical needs. This is where the challenge came in and I knew there was no where to go with it.
Both Jayson Blair and Janet Cooke are obviously not the epitome of ethical journalists. They differ from the example Shapiro provided because they weren't pressured by editors but did this on their own. Were they wrong in doing so? Of course but they're not the only ones to have done this and they won't be the last ones either.
ReplyDeleteI think this speaks volumes about journalism as an institution more than anything. Due to the deadlines and competing market, a good story makes headlines. The facts aren't checked unless complained about and editors trust the reporters to be ethical partly because that's just easier.
Another case that came to mind when I read about Jayson Blair was one of the biggest magazines in Brazil (the equivalent of Time in the U.S.) and a story they published when a very famous singer died. She was the equivalent of Janis Joplin, she had a history of drug use and the magazine printed first page that she died of an overdose. After an autopsy weeks later it was found she died of a heart attack and she had no drugs in her system at the time. It didn't matter. By then millions had read the story and no one cared anymore. There was no malice on the reporter's part but it's poor journalism on the reporter and editor's part.
I think there are some similarities between what Ivor Shapiro discusses and the tall tales told by Jayson Blair and Janet Cooke.
ReplyDeleteShapiro talks about an editor encouraging him to insert himself into his travel stories. This is something Jayson Blair did in reporting on stories about wounded soldiers. He claimed to have visited the soldiers’ families and hometowns, when in fact he never did. But he also completely fabricated parts of his stories, such as a dream the mother of a soldier had. This is not a technique Shapiro suggests.
In Cooke’s case, she totally made up a story about an eight-year-old heroin addict. She claimed that her editors hinted that this boy was real, but when she could not track him down, she wound up creating a work of fiction simply to appease her editors. This is somewhat related to what Shapiro says because he also felt some pressure from his editors to manipulate his stories in ways that could be construed as unethical. Obviously everyone wants to keep their job, so writers going against their editors is probably something they try to avoid.
There have been other instances similar to the Blair and Cooke cases. In the 1990s, Stephen Glass of “The New Republic” magazine made up quotes and whole events in his stories. In 2004, USA Today’s Jack Kelley was caught writing scripts for sources to use. If these people want to write, and they are all considered talented writers, maybe they should focus on writing real works of fiction.
Blair and Cooke are both extreme examples of journalists who fabricated their work in order to appease their boses and readers. While Blair took real stories and "enhanced" them, Cooke completely made up a story of a boy's life. While different, these two cases are similar in that they represent extremely poor journalistic integrity.
ReplyDeleteBlair "recalled" scenes through pictures he saw, twisted comments, took material from other newspapers and for four years while working at The Times he "violated the cardinal tenet of journalism, which is simply truth."
Cooke, on the other hand, completely made up a story about a young boy. A horrific story. A story that should not be told unless it is true. The "quotes" and "descriptions" she gave are disgusting to think about or believe to be true, and Cooke made many people believe this boy was out there. In my opinion, this is far worse than Blair's disception.
I agree with Greg- They should be fiction writers, NOT journalists.
I feel that Jasyon Blair was a perfect example of what Ivan Shapiro was discussing in chapter 10. Blair's story ideas and foundations may have held validity, however he fabricated them to an unethical degree. By claiming he put himself in such situations that he never did, and enhancing story elements and quotes, Blair quickly lost the trust of his co-workers, and eventually the public.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to Cooke I do not feel she was as great of an example, regarding story fabrication. She did far more than enhancing, she completely made up a story that was said to be true, a story that brought upon much publicity to her and the Washington Post.
I feel it is important in situations such as these to think long term, rather than in the moment. I'm sure many writers feel pressured by their editors to get that sort of compelling award-winning story, however to go to great lengths and create the story out of nothing, such as Cooke did, or to ornate it, like Blair, only proves to hurt the writers and their credibility long-term.
Blair and Cooke are definitely examples of what Shapiro is talking about. Both violated those five principles for the “science of reporting.” And honestly, this is clearly not just symptomatic of feature writing. Hard news, biographies, memoirs, whatever—people are always self-promoting works that add to what's not there, deceive the audience, aren't transparent in methods and motives and don't rely on original (or any) reporting.
ReplyDeleteLook at Stephen Glass. Just like Blair and Cooke, the cinematic detail in his stories read like he was actually there. Instead, he had fabricated quotes, situations, details and even whole stories. When he was finally discovered in May 1998, Glass was associate editor at The New Republic.
Or how about James Frey? Though he claimed that he was open about altering small details in his memoir, “A Million Little Pieces,” Oprah Winfrey felt she was duped. Frey's a great example of the backlash that ensues when an audience is deceived (probably because Oprah was involved).
Honestly, even though these are isolated incidents, this is not a new idea. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a whole chapter on the obligation for truth, or accusations on different news organizations for bias.
Jayson Blair was in blatant violation of reporting the truth. In an article the Times published they say that he fabricated quotes, scenes and lied about being in places and talking to people that he didn't.
ReplyDeleteWhat gets me with his case is that it says that numerous editors and other reporters were weary of his stories and errors in his articles. How did it take 5 years and over 600 articles for him to be investigated?
Shouldn't his editors be held accountable for letting this go on for so long as well?
I don't think these people are examples of tweaking the truth. Blair repeatedly made up things sources said and pretended to be reporting from places where he was not. Cooke fabricated the boy she wrote her Pulitzer Prize-winnig story on. This is more than just tweaking the truth.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I read, when Blair actually wrote the truth, it was lifted from other stories in databases he had access to with the New York Times. He made up quotes and information from sources and those sources later said they either didn't talk to Blair at all or never said what he wrote. This guy was rediculous.
Cooke wasn't as bad as Blair, if that can even be said when talking about fabricating things for stories. She didn't make things up in at least 600 stories, but she wrote a story that was good enough to win a Pulitzer Prize and the subject of her story was completely made up. She claimed that sources told her there was an actual Jimmy (the boy she made up), but when she couldn't find him she just fabricated him. She's pretty rediculous too.
I don't know if these two are alone, but I doubt it. I wouldn't be surprised if there are people fabricating things every day, thinking there is no way they can get caught. It's not right, but there are always people looking for the easy way to get by, hoping that no one is paying attention.
Jayson Blair was the ideal example of what Shapiro talks about in chapter 10. All his questionable stories have some core of truth. They're just padded with a lot of truth-twisting and, sometimes, flat out lies. He's definitely broken all five of the intellectual principles multiple times throughout his journalistic history.
ReplyDeleteJanet Cooke is a hack. Shapiro couldn't even fathom a reporter like this when he wrote this book. He mentions tweaking and adding and all that good stuff to a story, but there's still the lingering notion that there's some core of truth , be it large or small, to what you're still wrongly tweaking. This lady obviously turned that notion on it's head and wrote a great, yet completely untrue story trying to pass as journalism. Social adoration is a dangerous drug.
I agree with April.
ReplyDeleteBlair's stories were so popular that probably raised the number of readers/revenue/success of the NY Times.
Both writers, Janet Cooke and Jayson Blair harmed themselves before anybody else, as Shapiro says in the book. When you google their names, the first thing that appears is their involvement with ethical issues.
If you google the NY Times or the Washington Post, that won't be the case.
The responsibility falls entirely on the writer. It can be unfair, but being responsible for what you write is the best defense.
Jayson Blair committed the cardinal sin for a journalist by plagarizing someone elses' work. He not only copied work from past co-workers on the stories he covered, but he also attributed false quotes to his subjects and made up interviews with others. There is a thin ethical line that all reporters walk on, but Blair did more than just embellish a story or two. He blatantly falsified his stories and didn't fact check his sources when he actually did to talk to them. Cooke, on the other hand, completely fabricated the story about Jimmy. She heard a rumor about the boy and used her imagination run away with the rest of the story. These are just two prime examples of what a journalist shouldn't do, unless it is fiction writing. It's still hard to believe how Blair was kept on the NYT staff for so long despite constant mistakes in his stories.
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