The decision to release the report and expected move to issue further actions represents the first major foreign policy decision of Biden’s presidency, months after he vowed on the presidential campaign trail to make a “pariah” out of the kingdom. The White House’s “recalibration” of its relationship with Saudi Arabia is a major departure from the close relationship the crown prince, who is known as MBS, had with Trump, and Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The book provoked a wide-ranging professional debate when it was serialized in The New Yorker magazine. Joe McGinniss described Malcolm's "omissions, distortions and outright misstatements of fact" as "numerous and egregious" in his rebuttal. [20] As The New York Times reported in March 1989, Malcolm's "declarations provoked outrage among authors, reporters and editors, who rushed last week to distinguish themselves from the journalists Malcolm was describing. They accused her of tarring all in the profession when she was really aiming at everyone but themselves." [1] Although roundly criticized upon first publication—by both newspaper reviewers and media observers like former CBS News president Fred W. Friendly, who described the book's "weakness" and "crabbed vision"—it was also defended by a number of fellow writers. These included the journalists Jessica Mitford and Nora Ephron. [21] Her controversial premise that every journalist was in the business of "gaining [a subject's] trust and betraying them without remorse" has since been accepted by journalists like Gore Vidal and Susan Orlean. Douglas McCollam wrote in the Columbia Journalism Review, "Gore Vidal called source betrayal 'the iron law' of journalism", while Orlean "endorsed Malcolm's thesis as a necessary evil." McCollam further wrote, "In the decade after Malcolm's essay appeared, her once controversial theory became received wisdom." He also writes that "I think both the profession and subjects have paid a high price for our easy acceptance of Malcolm's moral calculus." [2]

Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm | Goodreads The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm | Goodreads

The United States government should impose sanctions against the Crown Prince, as it has done for the other perpetrators – targeting his personal assets but also his international engagements,” Callamard said. In The Journalist and the Murderer Janet Malcolm examines the relationship between the journalist and his subject, through the example of Joe McGinness and Jeffrey MacDonald, the subject of McGinness's best-selling book, Fatal Vision. McGinness was invited into the inner circle of MacDonald's defense team and he spent hours with MacDonald, and he continued to write friendly letters to MacDonald after MacDonald's conviction for the murder of his wife and daughters. When MacDonald read the book, he felt betrayed and sued the author for fraud and breech of contract.Smith, Dinitia (September 29, 2004). "Gardner Botsford, 87, Dies; Editor at The New Yorker". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved June 17, 2021.

Jamal Khashoggi: All you need to know about Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi: All you need to know about Saudi journalist

It based the assessment on the prince’s “control of decision-making in the kingdom, the direct involvement of a key adviser and members of [the prince’s] protective detail in the operation, and [his] support for using violent measures to silence dissidents abroad, including Khashoggi”. Malcolm, Janet. " Reflections: The Journalist and the Murderer" (subscription needed). The New Yorker. March 13, 1989. In Malcolm's book - she explores the 'ethics'/morals of journalism through Jeffrey MacDonald's murder case. MacDonald had taken too much diet pills which then aroused some kind of 'psychosis' in him - eventually leading him to kill his entire family. And then McGinniss (journalist/writer of Fatal Vision) wrote a book about him. MacDonald sued McGinnis afterwards. Malcolm argues in her book the rights/wrongs of that - and what is the responsibility/limits of a journalist.

The Journalist and the Murderer starts with a provocative opening sentence: "Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows what he does is morally indefensible." As a journalist myself, it certainly raised questions with me. Malcolm comes to the conclusion that McGinnis' approach was not ethical, and I tend to agree. Despite Macdonald's conviction for a crime that is horrific (albeit one he continues to deny he committed), it seems to me McGinnis' lies were not justified. The therapy of psychoanalysis attempts to restore to the neurotic patient the freedom to be uninteresting that he lost somewhere along the way. It proposes to undermine the novelistic structures on which he has constructed his existence, and to destroy the web of elaborate, artful patterns in which he is caught.”

The Journalist and the Murderer - Wikipedia

Janet Clara Malcolm (born Jana Klara Wienerová; [1] July 8, 1934 – June 16, 2021) was an American writer, staff journalist at The New Yorker magazine, and collagist who fled antisemitic persecution in Nazi-occupied Prague just before it became impossible to escape. [2] She was the author of Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession (1981), In the Freud Archives (1984), and The Journalist and the Murderer (1990). Malcolm wrote frequently about psychoanalysis and explored the relationship between journalist and subject. She was known for her prose style and for polarizing criticism of her profession, especially in her most contentious work, The Journalist and the Murderer, which has become a staple of journalism-school curricula. Senator Ron Wyden, who wrote the law that ultimately forced the report to be published, said there was “no question” in his mind that more should be declassified. Tony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said: “While the United States remains invested in its relationship with Saudi Arabia, President Biden has made clear that partnership must reflect US values. To that end, we have made absolutely clear that extraterritorial threats and assaults by Saudi Arabia against activists, dissidents, and journalists must end. They will not be tolerated by the United States.”

UPDATE 9/9/2012: I've been thinking more about this book since reading A Wilderness of Error and I wanted to add to it. The truth is that I DO find parts of Malcolm's central argument offensive. The first line: "Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible." Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible. He is a kind of confidence man, preying on people's vanity, ignorance or loneliness, gaining their trust and betraying them without remorse. Like the credulous widow who wakes up one day to find the charming young man and all her savings gone, so the consenting subject of a piece of nonfiction learns—when the article or book appears—his hard lesson. Journalists justify their treachery in various ways according to their temperaments. The more pompous talk about freedom of speech and "the public's right to know"; the least talented talk about Art; the seemliest murmur about earning a living.” When Malcolm's work first appeared in March 1989, as a two-part serialization in The New Yorker magazine, it caused a sensation, becoming the occasion for wide-ranging debate within the news industry. [1] This heavy criticism continued when published in book form a year later. But The Journalist and the Murderer is now regarded as a "seminal" work, and its "once controversial theory became received wisdom." [2] It ranks 97th on the Modern Library's list of the 100 best non-fiction works of the 20th century." [3] Themes [ edit ]

Journalist And The Murderer By Janet Malcolm | Used The Journalist And The Murderer By Janet Malcolm | Used

Charles Finch wrote in 2023 "it seems safe to say that the two most important long-form journalists this country produced in the second half of the last century were Joan Didion and Janet Malcolm." [30] Personal life [ edit ] The Journalist and the Murderer is a multi-part essay originally written by Janet Malcolm for The New Yorker, published in book form in 1990. Examining the relationship between subject and journalist, Malcolm portrays journalism as an inherently psychopathic profession, arguing that it capitalizes on a distortion of truth under the guise of objectivity. To accomplish this, Malcolm juxtaposes the lawsuit of a convicted murderer named Jeffrey MacDonald with a book written about the crime by Joe McGinniss called Fatal Vision. By excoriating both parties’ depiction of truth in this case, her essay is both itself a work of journalism and a commentary on the nature of journalism. Malcolm interviews the accused, the defendant, the jury, and the witnesses, demonstrating how the journalist, by nature of his or her role, always retains the ultimate position from which to synthesize primary and secondary information, empowered by the misguided trope of the objective reporter. a b c d Seelye, Katharine Q. (June 17, 2021). "Janet Malcolm, Provocative Journalist With a Piercing Eye, Dies at 86". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved June 17, 2021. Here the issue is pretty blunt -- whether or not the murderer is guilty. The journalist hides his belief that he is guilty, and lies about it to maintain his access to his source. Most reporters will never be in the opportunity to deceive or not deceive in such a dramatic fashion.

Like the dupe in the Milgram deception, the naive subject of a book becomes so caught up in the enterprise and so emotionally invested in it that he simply cannot conceive of it in any terms other than those the writer has set for it. As the Milgram subject imagined he was 'helping' someone to learn, so MacDonald imagined he was 'helping' McGinniss write a book exonerating him of the crime, and presenting him as a kind of kitsch hero...When, instead, McGinniss wrote a book charging him with the crime, and presenting him as a kitsch villain...MacDonald was stunned." (p. 30) Macdonald had considered McGinnis a friend after he was invited behind the scenes with him and his defence team ahead of the murder trial.