Stunt Journalism

Catalog description

In 1887, when journalist Nellie Bly feigned madness in order to get herself locked up in the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island in New York, stunt journalism wasn't yet a brand. But the kind of immersive, investigative journalism that Bly did would soon become a way for journalists and newspapers to grab headlines, increase circulation and even affect real social change. Nowadays, serious stunt journalism is more commonly referred to as "immersion journalism" while some of the less serious attempts are questionably journalism at all. No matter what you call it, stunt journalism differs from traditional journalism in this significant way: The journalist deliberately becomes a part of the story-and often in disguise-in order to tell it. In addition to required readings, students will produce significant works of stunt journalism that, at least on a smaller scale, mirror the challenges of the stunt journalist.