If you were like me, you could hardly wait for the June 18 issue of The Gazette. And when it came, you wanted the next day’s issue right away.
I got hooked by the three-part Associated Press (AP) series “Trail of Terror” about those outlaws in Tennessee who robbed banks by taking hostages. So did a lot of you.
In a note accompanying the last part, Executive Editor Mark Bowden asked what you thought about the series. By multi-mail (e-, voice, snail, fax), some 200 of you responded, including 65 voice mails one day.
Most of you — about 95 percent — applauded the series. Many of you asked for more. A few disapproved on grounds the series pandered to sensationalism and had no local relevance.
What’s going on here? Journalism rarely evokes such abundant reactions. The question merits attention.
AP Special Correspondent Helen O’Neill was not offering traditional journalism. She was telling a story, literally, making characters come alive, developing a plot, generating suspense, providing an ending. Though using fiction writing techniques, she adhered to the journalistic doctrine of factual accuracy.
I wanted to find out more about the series. AP’s Des Moines Bureau provided O’Neill’s e-mail address as well as that of Bruce DeSilva, AP news feature editor who edited the series. I was soon talking to both by phone.
“A couple of months” is how long O’Neill said she worked on the series. The topic had been lingering in an “idea file” about a year.
Initially the Knoxville, Tenn., family (John and Trish Farry) was reluctant to talk. They had turned down other reporters’ requests. But O’Neill is not your typical journalist.
She got the family to agree to a meeting. She gave them copies of other stories she had written. Trust emerged.
O’Neill first wrote one long story. Editor DeSilva thought it would make a good series. O’Neill went back to gathering more information, this time mostly from investigators.
“This story at bottom really was about the nature of a crime that invades the home,” said DeSilva. He saw it as a “powerful and compelling story” distinguished by the “quality and depth of reporting and writing.”
Hundreds of newspapers throughout the country published the series. The extent of reaction from Eastern Iowa readers appears unmatched, doubtless due to Bowden inviting reactions.
Most newspapers published the series under the theme “The Love Connection.” Bowden didn’t think that fit and decided on “Trail of Terror.”
Responses indicated the story attracted young- sters, normally not newspaper readers. “(It) almost seemed like a Nancy Drew book . . . ,” wrote a 14-year-old, who noted, “Most of the time I don’t even glance at it (The Gazette).”
Serialization and combining fiction writing with factual reporting are not new to journalism. Popularizers have included such authors as Truman Capote (“In Cold Blood,” 1965) and Tom Wolfe, who examined “the new journalism” in a book by the same name (1973).
One problem with this kind of journalism is that in less skillful and trustworthy hands, fiction comes to prevail over journalism.
O’Neill has received “dozens” of positive responses from readers, including from the Farry family. She said the series is certain to become a television program and perhaps a movie.
This storytelling approach requires more than the essential literary elements. It calls for dogged information gathering and storytelling aptitude and, especially, a commitment of resources. Such a story is even more potent with a clear local link.
