Questioning journalistic identity through an analysis of the narratorial stance in literary journalism
(2013) Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication 2013 Conference — Location: Washington DC (United States) (8.August.2013)
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- Authors
Vanoost, Marie 
- Abstract
- Fall in the readership, search for a viable economic model on the Internet, loss of credibility, etc.: journalism is undergoing a deep crisis in the United States. One way to try to overcome this crisis would be to engage in a vast reflection on what journalistic identity is, what it can be and what it should be. Literary journalism is a very particular kind of journalism and clearly cannot stand for the whole profession. However, as it lies on the borderlines of journalism – and literature –, literary journalism expresses some temptations of journalists towards other models, references and even values. It may thus seem particularly interesting to approach, even if only obliquely, the issue of journalistic identity. The choices literary journalists make towards reportorial and narrative transparency or opacity may concern different aspects of the journalistic process (cross-checking process, sources identity, relationship to subjects, personal reactions to the reported situation, etc.). They may also offer several degrees on the continuum between total transparency and absolute opacity. Considered together, all these choices reflect varying narratorial stances, varying ways for journalists to create an image of themselves through their texts. Analyzing these narratorial stances allows to apprehend and question these images, and to confront them with traditional professional representations and values. When a literary journalist becomes the protagonist of her story – be it hero or anti-hero –, is she still a journalist? And what about her status as journalist when she becomes an omniscient narrator, telling her story without any indication on the way she reported it? What are the implications for her professional identity if she stresses the flaws of her own account, if she lays down her weaknesses and doubts? And what if she intentionally hides these? These are all questions that this paper intends to explore through an analysis of the narratorial stance in some canonical examples of literary journalism.
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Vanoost, M. (2013). Questioning journalistic identity through an analysis of the narratorial stance in literary journalism. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication 2013 Conference, Washington DC (United States). https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/223525