The Mechanic & the Muse

Storytelling Manifesto

"If we intend to have jobs 20 years from now, if we intend to own any validity in our fight for progress and reform, we have to reverse the trends that infect our business." That's Ben Montgomery, a reporter for the Tampa Tribune, describing why he created a blog devoted to "prolonging the slow death of newspapers" by showcasing great writing.

In his June 2005 inaugural post on gangrey.com, he argues, "We have to tell stories like David Finkel and W.C. Heinz and Anne Hull and Ernie Pyle. We have to inspire like Michael Brick and C.J. Chivers and Kelley Benham. We have to captivate like Rick Bragg and Barry Siegel and Kate Boo and Earl Swift.

"We have to make the people who pick us up in the morning say, "Damn, that was a good story."

"We have to get better."

Meg Martin, Poynter's Naughton Fellow, turned me on to the site. His storytelling manifesto, she says, "was his first entry (and one of the reasons why I SO love this particular blog, besides the fact that it's got fantastic links to incredible journalism."

That was all I needed to know.

Do you take this Jarhead for richer...?

Driving home last night I heard a startling radio story on "Marketplace," which follows "All Things Considered" on our local public radio station.

The subject itself--"marriages of convenience" between US military and spouses who may not even know each other but hook up to split bennies (off-base housing, dependent health care)--came as a surprise.  Hadn't heard about that one.

But what made it even more impressive was the reporter, a young woman named Sophie Simon-Ortiz, a staffer for Youth Radio, billed as "a station created by young people training for careers in media."

Now this may be old news to everyone else, but it was the first time I'd heard about this scam. The story used some unnamed sources, including one military "wife" who described marrying a soldier at a Vegas chapel; the honeymoon was breakfast at an IHOP.

But it also featured well-balanced reporting: a Navy spokesman who bemoaned the situation but said the fraud was tough to crack, and a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan who chose not to go the marriage route but understands why others might take advantage of the system.

It got me wondering if it took a young person to find and get people to talk about their involvement in the fraud. MSM is so worried about demographics. Stories and reporters like Ms. Simon-Ortiz make me feel confident the next generation can produce stories just as good as the boomers who are doing the job now.