Word: yorkerism
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...American journalism has brought Masson v. New Yorker Magazine, Inc., on itself by worshiping at the shrine of the quote. The case is now before the Supreme Court. Most journalists would probably agree with Judge Kozinski of the lower court that an article without quotes just doesn't hack...
Jeffrey Masson, a psychiatrist, was the subject of a New Yorker profile by Janet Malcolm. Masson claims that Malcolm libeled him by putting in his mouth words he never said, such as "intellectual gigolo" to describe himself. Malcolm denies making up quotes but also claims a constitutional right...
...Yorker's reputation can survive this assertion of privilege is a puzzle. Nowhere in journalism is the quote more sanctified. A typical New Yorker profile is nothing but a string of lengthy quotations from the subject and his or her associates, with a connecting tissue of irrelevant scene- setting detail. Malcolm has admitted to fabricating some of this detail, such as moving the site of a conversation from her flat in New York City to a restaurant in California. The myth is that by relying so heavily on seemingly verbatim quotations, the journalist is functioning as a crystal-clear piece...
Newsmagazines also rely heavily on quotes, though their style emphasizes compression and bustle, in contrast to the New Yorker's leisurely pace. Each point the writer wishes to make comes with a quote to add color and authority. The color and the authority often take up more precious space than the point itself: "Iraq may not become a quagmire. 'We'll feed the Kurds and then amscray,' says retired Lieut. Colonel William Finnegan, now a senior fellow at the Center for War, Pestilence, Famine and Death in Washington...
...This ultimatum can work surprisingly well, provided that a good program is available. Margaruite Custode was offered the choice between jail and treatment last June and picked the latter, figuring that she would dry out, get her baby back and get high again. Custode, a 30-year-old New Yorker, had been through detox before, and the treatment never stuck. She had lost custody of two previous children. But this time she entered a program at Daytop Village designed for mothers. To her amazement, she found that within a month she began to connect with other women in the program...