Between engagement and ironic ambiguity: Mediating subjectivity in narrative journalism

Abstract

This article explores how narrative journalism challenges dominant assumptions about objectivity by taking the mediating subjectivity of the reporter as a structuring principle for stories. By comparing the coverage of the Middle East conflict by British award-winning reporter Robert Fisk and Dutch novelist/reporter Arnon Grunberg we show how overt subjectivity is displayed in different manners and how this affects the persuasiveness of reporting. Fisk adopts a personal–engaged subjectivity that fits in with the tradition of ethnographic realism and in that respect abides by the fundamental maxims of traditional journalism. Conversely, Grunberg displays a personal–ironic subjectivity that resembles cultural phenomenology and constantly calls into question whether journalism is able to represent reality univocally. We argue that both approaches fit in with a broader cultural development that disputes the possibility of objective truth and questions the corresponding epistemological procedures. Nevertheless, the latter approach particularly raises doubt among readers and critics because it subverts the profession’s claim to truth.