Literary, Long‐Form, or Narrative Journalism

Abstract

This entry provides an introduction to narrative journalism (also referred to as literary journalism or long‐form journalism), a hybrid genre that employs literary storytelling techniques to report on real‐world events and situations. The entry reviews the historical development of written news narratives and the broad spectrum of contemporary manifestations of the genre. In addition, it discusses the sociocultural processes through which narrative journalism operates, the structural and stylistic characteristics of journalistic narratives as well as their impact, and the current practice of narrative journalism. Directions for future research are suggested with an emphasis on the audience's evaluation of narrative journalism in terms of perceived subjectivity and truthfulness.