''Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible. He is a kind of confidence man, preying on people's vanity, ignorance, or loneliness, gaining their trust and betraying them without remorse.''
I may have read this book years ago, but with Janet Malcolm's death, I decided to read it again. Or listen to it. Malcolm wrote books on many subject, but this one looks at Joe McGinnis' book about Jeffrey McDonald and the death of his wife and children (FATAL VISION). This was a huge murder case and a very popular look at it. What interests Malcolm is whether or not McGinnis took advantage of his relationship with McDonald and his defense team to crucify him. Or was it something that happened over the course of the case. Was it fraud? Can a journalist be an objective onlooker or is it likely they will either believe too much or not at all. And either position will affect their work. Does a journalist like McGinnis frame the story in a way that will sell books? So many questions to ask here.
7 comments:
I remember that murder case, Patti! It really did hold everyone's fascination, didn't it? And it does make you wonder about journalism's role in cases like that...
Yes, of course McGinnis framed it the way he wanted to, but that doesn't make him a fraud, at least not to me. MacDonald was a cold-blooded murderer and arrogant to boot, and if he was so besotted with his own genius that he thought he could frame his story to be the hero of his own tale, well, his arrogance brought him down as much as McGinnis. He made his choice. No one forced him to talk to McGinnis.
Thanks for the post, Patti. I am going to get a copy of it. I remember the McGinniss book and a TV movie based on it.
I read this book, too. The McGinnis controversy continues to this day. So many questions...unanswered.
Elgin. I listened to it on Hoopla for free if your library subscribes to that service. I do think McDonald is a sociopath but I think McGinnis acted pretty immorally.
Thanks, Patti. I checked and my library has the audio book through Hoopla. I’ve never used that site. But I have used the other library-connected site, Kanopy, which is a great source of free movies, foreign films, art flicks.
I use both as well as a service called Libby. Thank goodness for libraries!
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