Esquire recently listed the seven greatest stories it has ever published. The story that took the top slot was “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold,” by Gay Talese, and it is a masterpiece. Take a moment to read it (after reading my post, please).

For those of you new to the history of journalism, let me preface my comments by saying that this is just one example of the New Journalism as defined by Tom Wolfe. The basic idea was to use literary devices usually found in fiction to write non-fiction narrative pieces. It began showing up in the 1960s and ’70s, and was made popular by writers like Hunter S. Thompson, Truman Capote and Norman Mailer, among many others.

This tradition has been continued lately by other fantastic writers, such as William Finnegan, who wrote a gripping piece in the New Yorker a couple months ago, and if you’d like to learn more about how they do what they do I highly recommend The New New Journalism by Robert Boynton. The book collects interviews with the new “New journalists,” talking about their craft and their methods.

All of that said, I think Talese’s article illustrates a few points that all journalists, new and old, should keep in mind as news production continues to change.

  • First, notice that Talese never (or nearly never, perhaps I missed one) appears to actually interview Sinatra. But, if you’ve read it, after finishing this profile, you know Sinatra better, it would seem, than if you’d read a Q&A with him. I got the impression that an interview with him would’ve seemed like fluff in comparison to the rest. Talese’s meticulous observation of everything Sinatra does and says to the people around him works to portray an extremely vivid picture of both the person and character Sinatra embodies. It is this kind of overwhelming description that should be the goal of every non-hard-news article. Certainly there are caveats, and hard news does not have time for such flourishes; but if quick facts aren’t the purpose, this should be the standard of observation.
  • Second, Talese has a great sense of pacing. The story itself takes place over a few days, but within those few days Talese describes years of Sinatra’s past and future. In the olden days, when newspapers measured in column-inches, a writer had to fit everything worth knowing in the first paragraph with the assumption that the story could be cut off anywhere. As the format changes, writers have more space to think about the ending and how to get there. (Once again, I’m thinking mainly from a feature perspective, not a hard-news perspective.) Using this Talese article as an example of how to pace and weave a story will do much to compel a reader to stick around and keep reading as other sources of media constantly beckon.
  • Third, Talese knows when to cut. There are several instances when it’s obvious that Talese observed more, heard more, and wrote more but decided to subtract rather than add. The article is 19 pages printed, but every paragraph feels essential and they all flow so nicely that you barely notice. I had a high school English teacher that used to make us write our sentences on the board in front of the class and justify our use of each word. This is a principle that should be taken to every form of writing.

It’s writing like Talese’s and Finnegan’s and other “new” journalists that makes me excited to write and pushes me to keep at it. If you’re looking to study journalism, or already are, these are the authors that should set the standards for which you reach.