Thursday, June 12, 2008

The best stories aren't true

The best story tellers are journalists.

2 comments:

Stroll said...

So journalists should be fiction writers, to make the most of their story telling ability. Wait, what?

MT said...

It's that the stories that fascinate us so much in part because, we regard them as true owe that regard to us having encountered the stories or believing them to be in the news. But reporting "the news" is telling a story and need not convey "the truth." We couldn't really know if it were so that the best stories were true, and because I think it's important to stay cognizant to why we couldn't, therefore I regard the dictum that "the best are true" as insidious and felt like offering an antidote.