Introduction: What am I really doing
here? 9
Steffen Moestrup, Jesper Gaarskjær and Gitte Luk
Introduction to the journalistic ‘I’ and an outline
of the aim, content and structure of the book.
1. The first-person narrator: I take on
different roles 17
Jesper Gaarskjær
An introduction to different types of first-person
reporting, and how the ‘I’ can take on different roles with different effects.
2. Reportage: I bring home a piece of
self-experienced reality 39
Peter Nicolai Gudme
A guide to using yourself in first-person reportage
by establishing a persona and playing a role.
3. Investigative journalism: I examine
the world from an honest, reliable perspective 59
Jesper Gaarskjær
An analysis of how the ‘I’ can strengthen your ethos, credibility and
storytelling in investigative and feature journalism.
4. Profile stories: I change positions
and make room for different personas 75
Steffen Moestrup and Christine Isager
An exploration of the scope of the profile story
and how the meeting between journalist and subject unfolds and is described
with different degrees of emotional intensity and for different purposes.
5. Essays and memoirs: I explore my life
97
Jesper Gaarskjær
An introduction to the essay and memoirs, analysing
and discussing the methodical and ethical dilemmas associated with these
genres, where the ‘I’ takes centre stage and uses her own life and
recollections as the main source of the story.
6. Ghostwriting: I am an illusion
created by a ghost 117
Rasmus Rønlev and Rikke Hyldgaard
The chapter dissects the work of ghostwriters who
endeavour to approximate the voice of their main source and construct the ‘I’
of the other person, and discusses the ethical dilemmas involved.
7. Ethnographic journalism: I enter an
unfamiliar culture 139
Anne Kirstine Hermann
An introduction to ethnographic journalism and an
analysis of how the journalist can take different positions, both
methodologically and as an ‘I’ in the text.
8. Audio stories: I speak in many voices
155
Rasmus Rønlev and Susanna Sommer
The chapter presents a typology of archetypal
first-person narrators in journalism and shows how the various narrators may be
purposefully staged in audio stories.
9. The digital ‘I’: I am the product of
a stream of zeros and ones for you to click on 177
Steffen Moestrup
Through the analysis of digital narratives, the
chapter explains how the digital ‘I’ can be activated, both as a source’s point
of view via digital elements and as an explicit ‘I’ in the text.
10. Personal photography: I take photos
of my own world 201
Gitte Luk and Søren Pagter
Based on selected personal photo projects, the
tension between the postulated objective photography and the declared first-
person project in photojournalism is examined.
About the authors 229
