The Boy Who Wouldn't Die... Amazing piece in SI about Rae Carruth's son

Fair enough, but the first five paragraphs and the last two or three are kind of the most important in any story as far as the reader is concerned. Why weren't they just eliminated by the editors? It's not like SI isn't famous for aggressive editing.

 

I don't disagree with any of what you said. The lede's been ripped by most of the readers here. I still think, in between that lede and that ending, there was a hell of a lot of good storytelling.

 

Or the more they embellish.

 

I'm 100 percent with you on that, Michael.

 

People here derisively say "If it wasn't for newspapers, TV would never have STORIES!!!!!" but when magazine dudes basically acknowledge that they sometimes find ideas (and sources, whose memories apparently magically expand!) from newspapers, that's just smart business.

So, is it always OK for media outlets to do this, or is it never OK? Or does it depend on the medium, and the fact that print jockeys' perception of broadcast news is often negatively skewed?

 

I think you are short-selling how much skill it takes to structure, pace, and word a story to give the illusion - and that's what it is, an illusion - that the writer has gotten the hell out of the way.

 

False equivalence, and a strawman.

Print people get pissed when radio and TV people read their stuff basically verbatim (maybe cleaning it up for broadcast style).

Magazine people get the idea and put in their own work and get their own sources and then write.

 

I didn't say it was easy, I said writers should do it.

 

I think the distinction is between breaking news and feature pieces. I think the aggravation with broadcast sometimes stems from the perception that they don't work to break stories or do any substantial daily reporting, just piggbacking off the newspaper. It'd be like SI running a bunch of AP stories. That's the valid comparison.

 

Consider me chastened.

But I do think that sometimes writers don't understand that "staying out of the way" can be very difficult, too.

 

Next to humor, it was always the thing I found most difficult. The temptation to gild the lily grows stronger the more beautiful the lily is.

 

Hence, I imagine, Lake's first couple paragraphs. We've all been there: "This isn't a run-of-the-mill story, and I can't treat it that way!"

And I don't doubt Lake's sincerity in writing his opening. He's clearly a thoughtful guy, and I think he felt every word of it. Just wish he'd found a smoother way to INCORPORATE it into the actual writing.