journalism's top ten

NYU came up with a list of the top ten works of journalism over the past decade. Note No. 2. A note of validation for all those who fell in love with Adrian Nicole LeBlanc's work in either Advanced J. or Mag. J. -- or who have come to appreciate the importance of immersion journalism.

2 Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx, 2003

A model of immersion reporting and narrative storytelling, this deeply empathic, deeply disturbing portrait of life among the underclass challenges the received notions of poverty theorists and ordinary readers on the left and the right alike.

Go here for a review of the book. bk

on interviewing. and other stuff.

This is mainly (but not only) for the mag class:

Go here for a thoughtful look at the tricky ethics of the Q-and-A by Clark Hoyt, the public editor of The New York Times. Make you uncomfortable?

Go here and here for some background info on Gary Smith, whose work we will be discussing this week. The first is a piece by Marketwatch's Jon Friedman, who writes that smith is the journalist he would most like to meet. The second is a Q-and-A with Smith posted on Mediabistro. You can also read more about him via a search on jlinx.

Go here for a link to a compelling obit for Studs Terkel, who died this past fall, and who is the master of the oral history. Go here for a sample oral history (you can find others, from several of his other books, thanks to amazon online reader) from "American Dreams: Lost and Found".

If you need a refresher on John Sawatsky's interviewing techniques, go here.

And finally, to continue the riff on Cecile's micro-discussion from Friday: where does a journalist draw the line when it comes to either rescuing a source or observing illegal activity? When do you step in -- or do you? This question could certainly apply to Adrian Nicole LeBlanc's "Trina and Trina", yeah? Comments? bk