Editor’s Corner
October 3, 2008
Recounting stories in real time
By
Constance Hale
Two weeks ago, we were on the verge of picking an elegant story from among our submissions when a profound sense of disconnect hit us. At a time when cataclysmic events were roiling the nation, it seemed myopic to focus on a lovely narrative about one small community. We found ourselves asking how narrative journalism might—or might not—serve readers anxious to comprehend campaign temblors and economic collapse as they unfold in real time. We put aside the lovely narrative, which we hope will make an appearance at a later date.
Traditional narratives take time to construct—time to report, time to reflect, time to write, time to rewrite. They are a tapestry of information and impressions, woven together by artful language. But are there other equally compelling ways to construct news narratives? How are journalists grappling with this in print and online?
We found a new form of narrative in a blog at FiveThirtyEight.com. Authors Nate Silver and Sean Quinn use a classic road narrative to frame polling numbers. A folksy voice renders spreadsheets coherent. When taken not post by post but rather over time, blogs can, indeed, trace a narrative arc.
At last weekend’s Nieman Seminar for Narrative Editors, newyorker.com’s Blake Eskin likened single blog posts to the individual bits of color in a pointillist painting or the series of points in calculus that aggregate to form an arc. The financial crisis and the ricocheting presidential polls show us that on the flickering screen, post after post can result in real narrative, much as still shots in sequence create narratives on the silver screen.
We also found traditional pieces that address the turmoil of the election and the Wall Street meltdown. Adam Nagourney’s New York Times article on John McCain compares the current candidate with his former, unscripted self. (During the opening scene, McCain teases a teen at a rally: "You little jerk… you’re drafted.") Jon Hilsenrath, Serena Ng, and Damian Paletta at the Wall Street Journal settle briefly on an image of financial problems as a "spreading disease," describing Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson looking "like exhausted surgeons delivering grim news to the family." Extending their metaphor, the authors quote a source who says, "The [organizations] that had the biggest exposure, they’ve all died."
Sometimes it’s style that makes news narrative. Mark Washburn from The Charlotte Observer used a mock Q & A, humor, and even NASCAR references to get his readers up to speed on the economy (“Lemme explain this crisis mumbo jumbo”).
These albeit unusual narrative excursions all use story and voice to help readers make sense of events in the moment, thereby earning their place at the table of narrative journalism.