camino journalism

[Rebekah Scott]

I can weigh in on this one, seeing it from both the grizzled pilgrim side, and the ink-stained wretched journalist side.

As I hinted  in my previous post, this NYT story is rife with the marks of severe editing. If there are no quotes, it's because hurried editors cut those first. If there are entire regions missing, especially those toward the end of the route, it's because editors "cut from the bottom." The last is cut first, as most readers get bored and quit reading before the end, so no great loss. It's the top of the story that's most important. Hooking a reader and keeping him till the end is the hallmark of good writing and compelling reportage, (and a slow news day that opens up more space for features). A really zingy ending is the hallmark of really good editing. (these are my opinions, not canon.)

I wrote for NYT national editions a few times back in my freelance days, and it's no picnic. You feel flattered and honored because your piece was picked up by "the big boys," but you're mystified at what's become of your copy when you finally see it in print.
 I wonder if this writer's comments about water and sanitation survived the cut because of the pathological bent of so many travel editors:: Make sure you hang onto  the negative, even in an overwhelmingly positive tale, just so you can keep that elusive "journalistic balance" myth intact. (this is an extremely American phenomenon, I might note.)

Also in the writer's defence, I say it's almost impossible to write comprehensively about such a huge, long, varied experience as the Camino de Santiago within the confines of the 40-90 inch standard offered for travel feature pieces -- the format is designed for "this year's beach trend," not "a thousand years' walk alone."
    When I did my own "comprehensive camino" walk in a 2-month unpaid leave from my newspaper job, it was fully expected I'd produce at least a travel story therefrom -- that would make the entire trip tax deductible for me, and make my managers feel I hadn't wasted their resources.
   But it never happened. Even though I'd written extensively in previous years on the camino, on the partial bits I'd done, I found MY Camino was much too expansive and personal to boil down into column inches. I could never do it justice. I  kept much of it to myself, and paid my fair share of tax for a change.

One upside to all the poo about poo and pee on the trail: even as the Camino is overwhelmed with pilgrims, that article and its "down to earth" approach to sanitation -- accurate or not -- might discourage some of the most fastidious and over-pampered from deciding to "take a nice cheap hike across Spain, seeing as it's the 'hot' thing to do this holy year!"

So that's the way it is, or at least the way I see it. I think the writer did a fine job, considering. And the editor should be sent on a 40-day forced march across northern Spain!

Rebekah


Rebekah Scott, journalista
'The more I learn, the less I know.'

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