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What’s the Story?
A bite-sized companion to Brain Pickings by Maria Popova.
Twitter: @explorer
Andrew Sullivan thought and opinion media and communication media journalism writing lit culture and society talks native advertising

A writer wants to express the truth, according to his or her judgment, and to do so transparently and honestly; to take criticism; or to create art. That’s why you do it.

Michael Lewis … was once asked “Why do you write?” And he responded: “It’s always good to have a motive to get you in the chair. If your motive is money, find another one.”

And I think, at some point, every writer has to confront that: Are you doing this for the money, or are you doing it because it’s what you believe in, what you think the truth is?

[…]

The key thing is independence and sincerity, from a writer to a reader… The readers are the only stakeholders that a writer should ever be concerned with.

Andrew Sullivan’s fantastic and enormously important talk on the ethics of journalism at Harvard’s Center for Ethics – a poignant counterpoint to today’s epidemic of “native advertising,” “sponsored content,” and other travesties of churnalism.

Also see Michael Lewis’s advice on writing, from which Sullivan quotes, and Tolstoy on money and motives.

6-16-2014
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