Part III: Discussion and Outlook

7 Critical Reflections on the Results

7.1 Overall Significance of the Findings: A Synopsis

The textual analysis of selected journalistic reportages exemplifies that basic cate-
gories of narrratological analysis are applicable to journalistic texts. The reportages
of the sample can be described with such narratological core categories as narrative
situation, temporal order, narrative space, characterization and, in addition to this,
classified according to the subcategories thereof. (cf. figure 6) Structurally speak-
ing, the narrative reportage bears strong resemblances to literary fiction. The authors
fully exhaust the narrative potential inherent in journalistic reportages. Yet, this does
not mean that, correspondingly, the reportages fictionalize themselves. Rather, the
hybrid character of the reportages reminds us that we need to come to a turning point
in the understanding of this genre, in particular, and of the relationship between jour-
nalism and literature, in general. (Konstenzer 2009)

What the articles have in common is that they mirror the author’s attempt to not
just report but, most notably, to narrate. In the words of Wolfe and Johnson (1973:
15), it is that ‘plus’ which reinforces the impression that the reporters succeed
in bridging the gap between journalism and literature. The sample epitomizes
the complex relationship between these two fields and underlines the necessity to
revoke the categorical distinction between information and narrative models of
journalism. (Fulton 2005) No hard and fast rules exist for dividing texts into either
journalistic or literary artifacts. (Klaus 2004) The either-or classification amounts to
an oversimplification and does not satisfy the complexity that the pieces of the sam-
ple display.

The interdisciplinary approach adopted in the analysis yields the result that cat-
egories extracted from literary fiction are transferable to other genres – in this case
the reportage. In light of the transgeneric value of the analytical categories, it can
be argued that journalistic and literary forms of story-telling cannot be neatly sepa-
rated. In fact, the generic identification is profoundly context-dependent and situa-

N. Berning, Narrative Means to Journalistic Ends, DOI 10.1007/978-3-531-92699-5_4,

© VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften | Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH 2011
104 Part III: Discussion and Outlook

tional.157 (Konstenzer 2009) According to my own understanding, the reportages of

the sample differ from literary fiction only with regards to the degree of fictionality,
or rather, the extent to which literary techniques and narrative strategies are utilized.
(Eder 2005; Neuhaus 2003a) This manifests itself in the fact that some narratologi-
cal categories are employed considerably more often than others in the reportages.

Concerning the narrative situation, for instance, the analysis reveals that internal
focalization is unpopular with the authors. If any, it occurs only in short passages and
never throughout an article. Moreover, the passages that are presented in interior
monologue or free indirect discourse always turn up in the vicinity of speaker iden-
tifying clauses. (Toolan 1999) Consequently, they are interpreted as momentary in-
fractions of the journalistic code and the main narrative situation. (Cohn 1981) The
reason why internal focalization is particularly difficult to realize in reportage writ-
ing is, first of all, a practical one that is related to professional constraints. By invad-
ing areas of life that they cannot move into easily, journalists put themselves at risk,
because they may be sued for invasion of privacy. (Wolfe & Johnson 1973) Second-
ly, internal focalization is a perspective that affords laborious and time-consuming
research. Only then can it be justified in front of the reader.

The narrator voice is, along with the primary focalization, the filter of a story
and of the information flow. In accordance with the findings, homodiegetic narration
is another area that the reporters avoid almost completely. The reason why this is the
case might have to do with the journalists’ reluctance to foreground their own per-
sonalities in the texts. In journalistic circles, the introduction of a narrative alter ego
is regarded as a sign of vanity or solipsism. (Müller 2008) In this context, the notion
of purportedly narcissistic tendencies refers to the fact that journalists position
themselves in their story so as to perpetuate their authority in the course of the nar-
ration. (Zelitzer 1990) Instead of telling the stories of their subjects, they might, in
extreme cases, end up telling a story about themselves.

Since for the most part reporters recount events from the past and (re-)construct
temporally remote stories through the lens of an omniscient narrator, the degree of

157
„Je nachdem, ob der Leser die Reportage als literarischen oder als journalistischen Text ein-
stuft, tritt er jeweils mit anderen Idealvorstellungen und Erwartungen an sie heran. Die er-
lernten Konventionen, Traditionen und Ordnungsprinzipien dienen dem Leser dabei zwar
als intersubjektive Grundlage, die tatsächliche, jeweilige Zuordnung der praktischen Bei-
spiele basiert allerdings auf einer individuellen Entscheidung.“ (Konstenzer 2009: 140)