Audience Engagement
3 mins read

“Unexpected forms” — Washington Post teams up with artists for an unconventional storytelling issue

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“From our computers to our phones to our TVs, we are surrounded, like never before, by journalism — by articles, by podcasts, by pundits. And when anything becomes as ubiquitous as journalism is today, it can all start to run together, losing its power to surprise, to jar people’s brains.”

That was the dilemma faced by The Washington Post team … How to make the important interesting. Interesting enough to gain attention, interesting enough to remember, interesting enough in a world where attention levels are shrinking to unprecedented lows, and news consumers are overwhelmed with content overload.

“Which is why we think there’s value, at this particular moment, in presenting journalistic stories via unexpected forms,” say Richard Just and David Rowell of The Washington Post.

Their solution? Releasing an alternative storytelling issue, featuring journalistic stories in innovative formats like song, poetry, graphic-novel, three-act play and even a board game.

“Whether through an argument about Rod Rosenstein set to song, or a poem about fracking, or a play about prom chaperones, we hope this experimental issue of the magazine brings to the fore aspects of the human condition that can get lost in more conventional journalism,” they explain.

And we hope it surprises you in the best possible way.

The Washington Post teamed up with a number of artists to bring to life this unique issue:

The compilation includes a song about the deputy attorney general by Ben Folds, a Betsy DeVos board game, a poem by former U.S. laureate Robert Pinsky (James Comey goes on tour), food critic Tom Sietsema’s restaurant review (by annotating a menu), and even a fill in the blanks (Write your own Trump speech).

At the center of the issue is a song created for the magazine by singer-songwriter Ben Folds. Titled “Mister Peepers,” it describes the predicaments Rod Rosenstein has faced as deputy attorney general. Along with the rest of the issue, the song is available on The Post’s website here.

“This issue of The Washington Post Magazine is an experiment in telling journalistic stories through very unusual mediums,” said Richard Just, editor of The Washington Post Magazine.

“At a time when the sheer number of stories that readers consume every day can feel overwhelming, we hope that presenting stories in unconventional forms will create a sense of surprise for readers. You might have read dozens of stories about Rod Rosenstein, but maybe hearing a song about him helps you access a different aspect of his narrative.”

“We knew a good chunk of this issue would be political,” said Just. “That’s why we did Ben Folds’s ‘Mister Peepers’ song, the Pinsky poem about James Comey or the Betsy DeVos board game.”

“But the magazine also takes very seriously the idea of Washington that’s more than just a city of politics.”

A number of publications have been experimenting with creative storytelling of late. Just this year we covered The Financial Times experiment (Journalism as a theatre performance), The Economist’s first graphic novel on Instagram, Augmented Reality Storytelling by the National Geographic, and The New York Times’ T Brand content studio.

The Washington Post Magazine’s creative storytelling was also converted into a print magazine. Just believes this will help drive traffic to the magazine’s website, where people can get the full multimedia experience. For example, physical magazine readers will have to go online to listen to the ‘Mister Peepers’ song.

In addition to Ben Folds’s “Mister Peepers,” readers will find:

  • A poem by journalist Eliza Griswold exploring the effects of fracking on a rural area of Pennsylvania.
  • A poem by former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky on James Comey’s book tour.
  • A board game in which readers can play as Betsy DeVos and attempt to survive her first 19 months in Washington.
  • A three-act play based on an evening spent with prom chaperones at T.C. Williams High School.
  • A graphic novel treatment of Date Lab.
  • Food Critic Tom Sietsema’s restaurant review as an annotated menu.
  • A poem by Gene Weingarten on the National Duckpin Bowling Congress Tournament held earlier this year in Virginia.
  • A create-your-own-speech version of a recent address by President Trump.

“We hope this feature will surprise people and will give them a different way to look at the news that they are reading every day,” concluded Just. “Beyond that, we hope readers will come back to the Post magazine as a source of long form journalism and creative storytelling.”

Readers can view the full issue here.