Les Payne is an esteemed journalist whose legacy includes such work as “The Heroine Trail” and “Waiting For the Eagle To Fly.” Payne’s type of journalism is often questioned as to whether it meets the journalistic code of ethics. However, in an age when investigative reporting is beginning to come under a lot of scrutiny, one can see why Payne’s type of journalism is increasingly necessary, under some circumstances.
While his undercover work has given readers a very candid view of the stories he reports on, there are some concerning issues such as they privacy of the subjects of his articles and the absence of their consent. For example, in “Waiting For the Eagle To Fly," Payne detailed the lives of several unsuspecting individuals, whom he lived with for a week on a migrant camp. Some of those details he wrote about were intimate and personal. With regards to these aspects, one can concede that his work may not be entirely a reflection of journalistic principles.
Some may suggest that because Payne’s work is a type of journalism that takes too much time, we should ultimately say goodbye to it. The truth is that, with the rapid exchange of information in today’s mass media, it may no longer become a traditional fashion for a report to take so long to be published for mass consumption.
However, considering that with digital media there is a much bigger possibility of content consumption, it makes sense to still conduct this kind of work in journalism. After being roasted by President Obama at the Press Correspondence dinner for lack of journalistic, in-depth reporting, CNN journalists stated that, aside from Obama’s administration resorting to tactics that discourage in-depth reporting, it should be taken into consideration that investigative/ in-depth reporting has become increasingly expensive to conduct.
It should be a point to note that there are two aspects that should be considered when recognizing his work. Those two aspects are his ability to report and his ability to write. Most often the two are mistakenly confused as being the same thing. However, they are opposite in that reporting requires one to engage in a large amount of research, interviews, and in some cases one can argue personal involvement into the story as seen in Payne’s “Waiting For the Eagle To Fly,” while writing requires more of a technical skill or art in disseminating information that often requires a high level of literary talents.
Payne says to ensure yourself that you are a great in-depth reporting journalist, always try to write better than the best reporter and report better than the best writer. It is an effort that will equivocate to being a well rounded, in-depth/ investigative reporting journalist. Payne seems to exhibit these qualities in his pieces throughout every part of his body of work. These are both essential abilities in investigative/in-depth reporting if one hopes to succeed in this particular brand of journalism.
Going forward in my career, I think I would actually enjoy this kind of journalism. While it may be in part for the exhilarating aspect of it, I feel this brand of journalism still has a deep relevance in society today.
One would point to the collective efforts that went into the work that was done to uncover information regarding the story on The Panama papers. This is a perfect example that stresses how important this brand of journalism still is and the benefits it carries for society as a whole. In-depth reporting provides the general public at large with information that otherwise maybe inaccessible to the people.
It is a useful tool in combating corruption, educating the public, and bringing awareness to matters that may otherwise go on ignored in society. It would bring me great pleasure in knowing that my work has contributed to all three of those functions. In-depth reporting will never get despite the adversity it currently faces, there will always be a need for this kind of journalism.
