Tom Wolfe and New Journalism

Tom Wolfe, an influential novelist and award winning journalist, helped set the stage in the early 70’s of what new journalism is, and how to write a good story. Wolfe worked as a journalist for ten years and helped write and edit an anthology called “The New Journalism,” a style which some journalists still employ, though it has fallen out of favor since its heyday.

Tom Wolfe was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia.  Wolfe attended Washington and Lee University where he received his bachelor and later went on to Yale, where he earned his PhD.

After college, Wolfe was offered many teaching jobs, but turned it down for his chance as a journalist. Wolfe took his first job as a journalist in 1956 for the Springfield Union, a local paper in Springfield Massachusetts. In 1960, Wolfe signed on with the Washington Post, where he became the Latin American correspondent. The most attention-grabbing detail that helped Wolfe stand out and get him a position with the Post was his dislike for politics.

The following year, Wolfe won the Washington Newspaper Guild’s foreign news prize for his work in Cuba. After working with the Washington Post, Wolfe moved on and wrote for the New York Herald- Tribune, as well as New York Magazine. During 1962,  even though he was with the paper and then the magazine, Wolfe still found time to write many novels.

The most influential piece of writing that Wolfe helped create in terms of journalism was The New Journalism, an anthology that helped the field take a step forward by giving the profession a new look. By stepping out of the original way to write a story, Wolfe and his partners used literary techniques that at the time were deemed unusual.

The work of the anthology helped create subjective journalism. New Journalism illustrated literary devices that were only previously seen in fictional writings. Before the early 70’s, journalism was known for being objective, having the journalist not part of the work as if they were invisible. Wolfe believed that a journalist should be part of the story, putting themselves into their work. All the short articles that had been added to the anthology were at one point an article in a paper or magazine.

In the beginning of the book, it starts with four articles written by Wolfe himself, as well as new techniques that included: Scene by scene construction, dialogue, the third person, and Status details. Wolfe believed scene-by-scene construction was important because it was easier to show a story if the journalist experienced and witnessed the event instead of getting the details from another source. Dialog was important to the new idea because it helped include the reader into the story as if they were there. Third person helped involve the reader and make it feel as if they had taken place in the event. The last detail that Wolfe believed was important in creating new journalism was the idea that people see other people as they see themselves.

The idea of New Journalism started to decrease around the 80’s. Although the idea never stuck, it helped set up a principal for how to write an article that is more that just facts. It helped create stories and involve readers, making them want to continue to read.

“Tom Wolfe.” Wikipedia. N.p., 4 Nov. 2016. Web. 28 Nov. 2016.

Lewis, Michael. “How Tom Wolfe Became…Tom Wolfe.” Vanity Fair 8 Oct. 2015: n. pag. Print.