Long-form journalism is a timeless genre that consistently and effectively engages audiences and delves deeply into content (Scanlan and Fadiman, 2003). This notion can be seen through the origins of the medium and how it was able to grow to be a well appreciated journalistic style, from humble precursor works. The wave of New Journalism flourishing in the 20th century is also a prominent concept when exploring the effectiveness of long-form journalism. Narrative nonfiction continues by finding a home between realism and relativism theories. The use of literary techniques to express narrative is a way of detailing how long-form journalism impacts on society. Throughout its history there have been many iterations of narrative nonfiction and these various forms have revealed the genre’s ability to evolve to fill the niches that keep it relevant and functional in a progressive media space. Immersion journalism has an extensive and well-documented history, exploring it will explain much about the quality of its audience interaction as a writing medium.
Long-form journalism, or immersion journalism, is a way of deciphering the stories of a complex world in a format that engages audiences through the emotional experiences of the day to day (Vanoost, 2013). It’s a genre believed to have originated with Daniel Defoe in the 18th century but gained traction with audiences en masse in the mid-20th century (Kramer, 1995). This more modern take on journalism is inherently broad in nature, but can be defined through Kramer’s expression of the traits of narrative journalism (Kramer, 1995). Narrative journalism involves immersion into the content and research, writing with accuracy and disengagement whilst concurrently sharing intimate perceptions of events with the audience (Kramer, 1995). Authors build a relationship with the reader and create meaning through implicitly evoking reactions (Kramer, 1995). It’s a sought after form of journalism, with millions of readers flocking to the growing style (Logue, 2014) but it’s very particular and has a pedigree of notable names at its foundations, names originating from Daniel Defoe (Kramer, 1995). Defoe, known primarily for his novel Robinson Crusoe (Gutkind, 1996), is the genesis for long-form creative nonfiction (Miller, 2011), essentially moulding the style with his novel The Storm in 1704 (Defoe, 1704). This broad work of both science and journalism (Miller, 2011) encapsulated the events of a fierce tempest that lashed Britain. The rise of the form was slow but as the depth of detail increased so did the willingness of authors to identify themselves as producers of this style (Kramer, 1995). What makes this an effective form of writing is its ability to move past the basics of a news story and as Gay Talese has said to find out “what is happening to the people, what is it like to go through this, what does it mean?” (Koch et al., 2010). This means that the genre produces constructive stories that have complexity and substance, they provide the reader with a more rounded knowledge of the content and find meaning (Gutkind, 2012) through accurate and personal perspectives (Gutkind, 2012). It’s forming truths. At its beginnings it was slow for society to accept long-form as a news medium (Kramer, 1995) but these foundational works, such as Defoe’s writings, were key in establishing public consciousness of the genre. This changed as time and society progressed with the golden age of narrative journalism rising in the mid-20th century (Wolfe, 1972) from the minds of Tom Wolfe, Capote and Talese. The origins of narrative journalism reveal a starting point for the medium and how it began to impact on society.
The 60s and 70s certainly popularised long-form journalism with the style redefined as New Journalism, breeding lengthy pieces of culture driven nonfiction and delivering them directly to the public in various formats (Gutkind, 2012). New Journalism, although not too different to older forms of writing (Murphy, 1974), hit a nerve during this period finding a place in a rapidly progressing society (Fakazis, 2014). Kramer describes the potency of narrative journalism as a style that combines the thrust of journalism with the art and creativity associated with the stories that appeal to so many (Gutkind, 2012). Long-form grew at this time as it was a means of presenting stories that were too large in scope to be constrained by normal news articles and were liked for their ability to present the news in more interesting ways. Truman Capote and his in-depth and engaging style exploded into the genre (Murphy, 1974) by his ability to truly immerse himself into his work. Capote revelled in the fact that narrative nonfiction has a “double effect” in that the story is motivating and interesting but also benefits from being completely true (Newquist, 1964). Trends began to diversify in this era of rebelliousness and cultural exploration (Kramer, 1995). In 1957 Capote wrote The Duke in His Domain, a deeply engaging profile on Broadway to movie star Marlon Brando whilst he was in Japan for his film Sayonara (Capote, 1957). This piece highlights the intricacies of immersion journalism, the slight perceptions of Capote are all included to give the audience a more wholesome view of the subject (Gutkind, 1996). It delves deeply into both American and Japanese culture and allows a subjective insight into the presence that was Marlon Brando; what he thought and why he thought it (Capote, 1957). This is how long-form gained recognition during this period, it found a piece of popular culture and explored it with the audience in a profoundly personal way (Scanlan and Fadiman, 2003). Narrative journalism is a genre that’s very flexible in its production and can flow between formulaic reporting whilst being presented in a narrative format (Vanoost, 2013). Creative nonfiction has developed greatly over its lifespan, especially during its rapid evolution in the mid-20th century, highlighted by an increasing audience that had a longing for more depth in their news content.
Long-form journalism rests fluidly between the more traditional realism theory of journalism and modern relativism (Eason, 1990). Journalistic realism is a creation of the 19th century, a time where the craft was relinquishing political affiliations in an effort to become more objective (Dean, 2015). Realism provided authors a consistent method of approaching news stories that allows them to present the facts from most to least newsworthy (Dean, 2015). Audiences can interpret the truth of an event naturally without the presence of bias in this format, except for the presence of editorial bias. Following this period propaganda and press agents began to cause problems in the news media space, so a transition to evidence and verification method was sought by field leaders Lippman and Merz (Dean, 2015). This transition gave rise to the utilisation of the inverted pyramid technique for producing news stories (Dean, 2015). This formulaic approach was established to give audiences an uncoloured deliberation of events but as with most formulas, these news stories were conventionally dry and business-like (Vanoost, 2013), whereas narrative journalism is influenced by relativism theory and flows more freely with truth and story (Tulloch, 2014). Relativism within the confines of journalism is something that’s very situational (Richter, 2001), depending heavily on the context of any given story and that is why it applies so well to narrative nonfiction. This genre of journalism is very individualist and will share little overlap with other stories, as most general news stories will. It’s a brand of journalism that is shaped by personal values and perspective, more so than universal principles (Kramer, 1995). Returning to Capote’s The Duke in His Domain relativist theory is typified by his use of basic facts as the foundation and his layering of truth and perception to build a coherent and creative, nonfiction piece (Kramer, 1995). Truman Capote crafted his story to a level of sophistication most deep and his narrative was fluid and engaging. Moving chronologically through the single evening meeting that Capote had with Brando, Truman trickled his perceptions and emotions into an overarching narrative built on the basic facts of the profile (Capote, 1957). The story noted the intricacies of the Japanese hotel; how the staff walked and talked, the quality of the American food replication, Brando’s attitude towards his peers and the film industry (Capote, 1957). He delved further making qualified conclusions on Brando’s character, his essence and how he perceived and interacted with people. All this information from one meeting and contacting Marlon’s acquaintances. Capote went further than a news story and produced a nonfiction narrative that reached for the meaning behind the facts and created truth (Fakazis, 2014). Long-form journalism’s ability to flow between realism and relativism gives it an edge in relation to both audience and content engagement. The genre gives further context, provides the reader with a greater picture of the event (Blair, 2006) and is in some ways more respectful towards the subject. It’s a style that resides between the comforts of basic news stories and towards the next story, towards New Journalism.
Literary technique is the primary device that allows creative nonfiction to effectively engage with an audience and a subject in ways that allows for appropriate depth and exploration. As both technology and society develop, so too do the ways in which narrative journalism can penetrate the public consciousness (Tenore, 2012a). There are more people, more screens and more pages available to immerse audiences in the subject matter (Tenore, 2012a). Gutkind developed the ‘Five R’s of creative nonfiction’ and believed that the anchor of this genre is the maxim “you can’t make this stuff up” (Gutkind, 2012). The traits identified by Gutkind can all be found in one of today’s most popular works of narrative journalism, they are the elements responsible for its popularity. This work is called Serial, a ten part audio series by Sarah Koenig investigating deeply into a single story (Koenig et al., 2014), allowing her to develop the narrative and characters to a meaningful degree (Robertson, 2014). Koenig investigates the case of Adnan Syed intently, immersing herself in the real life events (Zepps, 2014). She shares her thoughts with the audience, reflecting on the events as they unfold in an intimate way (Robertson, 2014). Koenig recreates situations, reviews case files and expert evidence and explains this conversationally with the audience, bringing them into the story (Logue, 2014). It’s a procedural investigation that suits narrative form well, the way it adheres to Gutkind’s theory of creative nonfiction forces the listener to be engaged with the content, it becomes addictive (Robertson, 2014). The style due to its truthful narrative has the benefit of being relatable (Robertson, 2014) for the audience, there is no fiction present just people and places. Chuck Leddy argues that this relatability is due to people always wanting to know what their stake in the story is. Audiences yearn for the meaning behind the events of a story and long-form journalism elaborates on the meaning of a story in a personal way, making it relatable (Dean, 2015). The ways in which authors are able to structure their story and derive meaning from facts, or literary technique, is essential for this genre to be able to effectively engage with audiences and present a fluid story.
Long-form journalism is a medium that has shown it can consistently adapt to the pressures of an evolving media space, keeping it an effective genre of journalism now and for the future. Creative nonfiction in more traditional forms is declining markedly (Sesno, 2013) in news media with decreases in publishing reaching nearly double that of previous years in the United States. In response to this the genre is exploring new styles to convey the same quality content (Tenore, 2012b). Documentaries, podcasts, extended blog posts and social media ventures are all on the frontier of pushing long-form journalism further into the mainstream. Podcasts give producers the freedom to explore what they want and to take risks, they aren’t tethered and can appeal to previously untouched audiences more effectively than traditional media forms (Zepps, 2014). Podcasts, such as Serial. Serial can have its impact on the mainstream measured not only by traditional metrics, such as the number of downloads, but by the way it has interacted with the subject. The writing, the narrative, was so effective that it brought key witnesses forward and revitalised the attention given to the case (Chaudry, 2015). It has spurred other journalists, citizens and lawyers to do their own further research into the story and eventually led to a successful appeal by the defendant earlier this year (Chaudry, 2015). Narrative journalism has an extensive effect on people and can drive change within society such as what happened in the case of Adnan Syed. It can truly be said that the genre is an effective method of communicating narrative, if long-form journalism can hook and propel people deeper into a story.
Through investigating the history of societal engagement in long-form journalism, the effective genesis of the genre can be seen and understood. The way the medium evolved over time and saw its renaissance in the mid-20th century reveals a shift in audience engagement with creative nonfiction. Delving into long-form’s place within theoretical perspectives gives the genre substance, resting between realism and relativism theory. The use of literary techniques within narrative journalism explains the mechanisms behind why the genre is impactful, showing its ability to reach well within the facts of a story. Looking into the evolution and future engagements of long-form reveals the potential for the medium and how it can effect society in the future. Long-form journalism is primarily an intimate method for expressing news in a narrative format and connects with audiences in a profound and personal manner.
Harrison Johnstone 