Print List Price:	$18.00
Kindle Price:	$14.99 Save $3.01 (17%)
Sold by:	Random House LLC Price set by seller.

Promotions apply when you purchase

Add an

audiobook with Audible narration for $7.49

Audiobook Price: $12.03

Save: $4.54 (38%)

Read with our free app

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.

Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

There was an error. We were unable to process your subscription due to an error. Please refresh and try again.

Follow the author

Janet Malcolm

+ Follow

More books from this author

The Journalist and the Murderer Kindle Edition

by Janet Malcolm (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.1 632 ratings

See all formats and editions

A seminal work and examination of the psychopathology of journalism. Using a strange and unprecedented lawsuit by a convicted murder againt the journalist who wrote a book about his crime, Malcolm delves into the always uneasy, sometimes tragic relationship that exists between journalist and subject.

Featuring the real-life lawsuit of Jeffrey MacDonald, a convicted murderer, against Joe McGinniss, the author of Fatal Vision.

In Malcolm's view, neither journalist nor subject can avoid the moral impasse that is built into the journalistic situation. When the text first appeared, as a two-part article in The New Yorker, its thesis seemed so radical and its irony so pitiless that journalists across the country reacted as if stung.

Her book is a work of journalism as well as an essay on journalism: it at once exemplifies and dissects its subject. In her interviews with the leading and subsidiary characters in the MacDonald-McGinniss case -- the principals, their lawyers, the members of the jury, and the various persons who testified as expert witnesses at the trial -- Malcolm is always aware of herself as a player in a game that, as she points out, she cannot lose. The journalist-subject encounter has always troubled journalists, but never before has it been looked at so unflinchingly and so ruefully. Hovering over the narrative -- and always on the edge of the reader's consciousness -- is the MacDonald murder case itself, which imparts to the book an atmosphere of anxiety and uncanniness.

The Journalist and the Murderer derives from and reflects many of the dominant intellectual concerns of our time, and it will have a particular appeal for those who cherish the odd, the off-center, and the unsolved.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a work that sparked controversy when it first appeared in the New Yorker, Malcolm suggests that journalist Joe McGinniss may have betrayed convicted murderer Jeffrey MacDonald in McGinniss's bestselling book Fatal Vision.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Every journalist is "a kind of confidence man . . . gaining . . . trust and betraying . . . without remorse," says Malcolm. This is an expanded and reworked version of Malcom's New Yorker essay on the "pscyhopathology" of the journalist/subject relationship, sparked by Jeffrey MacDonald's libel suit against Fatal Vision author Joe McGinniss. Even nonjournalists will be fascinated by Malcolm's discussion of the still puzzling MacDonald case; McGinnis's rather two-faced missives to the imprisoned MacDonald; and Joseph Wambaugh's libel trial testimony about journalistic "untruths." In an afterword, Malcolm comments on the heated debate her essay invoked in the journalism community, and concludes that, like it or not, every journalist must, to some degree, tussle with this ethical dilemma. An elegantly written, thought-provoking, and sometimes outrageous essay that should be in every media collection.
-Judy Quinn, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"It is not with regard to journalism but with regard to the making of works of art that Malcom's important book gathers its inspiration, its breathtaking rhetorical velocity, and its great truth." —David Rieff, Los Angeles Times

From the Inside Flap

In two previous books, Janet Malcolm explored the hidden sides of, respectively, institutional psychoanalysis and Freudian biography. In this book, she examines the psychopathology of journalism. Using a strange and unprecedented lawsuit as her larger-than-life example -- the lawsuit of Jeffrey MacDonald, a convicted murderer, against Joe McGinniss, the author of Fatal Vision, a book about the crime -- she delves into the always uneasy, sometimes tragic relationship that exists between journalist and subject. In Malcolm's view, neither journalist nor subject can avoid the moral impasse that is built into the journalistic situation. When the text first appeared, as a two-part article in The New Yorker, its thesis seemed so radical and its irony so pitiless that journalists across the country reacted as if stung.
Her book is a work of journalism as well as an essay on journalism: it at once exemplifies and dissects its subject. In her interviews with the leading and subsidiary characters in the MacDonald-McGinniss case -- the principals, their lawyers, the members of the jury, and the various persons who testified as expert witnesses at the trial -- Malcolm is always aware of herself as a player in a game that, as she points out, she cannot lose. The journalist-subject encounter has always troubled journalists, but never before has it been looked at so unflinchingly and so ruefully. Hovering over the narrative -- and always on the edge of the reader's consciousness -- is the MacDonald murder case itself, which imparts to the book an atmosphere of anxiety and uncanniness. The Journalist and the Murderer derives from and reflects many of the dominant intellectual concerns of our time, and it will have a particular appeal for those who cherish the odd, the off-center, and the unsolved.

From the Back Cover

In The Journalist And The Murderer, Janet Malcolm examines the psychopathology of journalism. She delves into the always uneasy, sometimes tragic relationship that exists between journalist and subject.

About the Author

Janet Malcolm is the author of numerous books, including The Silent Woman, Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession, and In the Freud Archives. She has been writing for the New Yorker since 1963, including nearly ten years writing "About the House," a column on interiors and design. Janet lives in New York.

Marguerite Gavin is a seasoned theater veteran, a five-time nominee for the prestigious Audie Award, and the winner of numerous AudioFile Earphones and Publishers Weekly awards. Marguerite has been an actor, director, and audiobook narrator for her entire professional career, and has over four hundred titles to her credit.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0053CTMN6
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage; Reprint edition (June 22, 2011)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 22, 2011
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1959 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 177 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #284,687 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #61 in Journalism Writing Reference (Kindle Store)
- #109 in Romance Fiction Writing Reference
- #135 in Media Studies (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
4.1 632 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Janet Malcolm

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5

632 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Julie P. Weeks

Publish or Peril?

Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2013

Verified Purchase

Malcolm is at her best when she gets under the surface of her subject, and she her writing, insight and perceptions are brilliant in this particular arena. She brings light to often neglected issues of honesty, intent and outcome in reporting.

Joe McGinniss fell into that murky area of journalism while deceiving Jeffrey McDonald because he needed to quarantee a financial success for his publisher and himself. This ruse may have cost him his integrity and literary career. I purchased his book immediately after reading Malcolm's criticism, needing to see the book myself before reaching a final conclusion.This is not an easy subject, nor is McDonald a sympathetic character. Janet Malcolm exposes the amazing and elaborate deception used by McGinniss to trap and crucify his subject. Her investigation into this relationship is so brilliant that you're hooked from the beginning!

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

AJF

Great read, but still think it needed more McGinnis

Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2018

Verified Purchase

This was a very thoughtful read on what constitutes ethical journalism, and the book raises poignant questions about whether a reporter can truly ever capture the "truth" of a person. At the outset, the main subject of the book declines to make himself available to the author. While somewhat disappointed initially, Malcolm seems to take relief in the fact that her personal dealings with the man can not complicate her writing about him. I bought this argument initially (and maybe I still do) but I do have to say that I think hearing more of his perspective was necessary to make this 4 star read an absolute 5. Ultimately, writing a book about a man's lack of ethics without allowing him to contextualize his side with the benefit of hindsight seems nearly as unfair as what McGinnis did to MacDonald. Her book isn't unethical, but it feels incomplete. Still, an excellent and thought provoking read

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

carol minkus

powerful accounting of a contentious trial

Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2023

Verified Purchase

this. was the choice for my book group, and it provided energetic exchanges. Well worth the time.

Helpful

Evan Lucas

Bought this book for class, an interesting look at the field of journalism

Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2013

Verified Purchase

I found this to book by Janet Malcolm to be a fascinating read, especially for anyone interested in journalism and the relationship between journalist and subject. Using the murder case of Jeffrey MacDonald as a backdrop, Malcolm looks at the unethical deal Joe McGinniss made for exclusive access to MacDonald to write his book. The initial murder case is overshadowed by a case of fraud and Malcolm suggests that McGinniss is guilty of misleading MacDonald. How do we make sure journalists remain ethical in their reporting. Does Malcolm give us all the facts? Is she herself participating in the very thing she accuses McGinniss of? This book left me with many questions.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Richard Weems

A needed discussion right now

Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2018

Verified Purchase

In being nearly twenty years old, Malcolm’s book suffers a bit of dating and a somewhat heavy faith in psychoanalysis, but her ideas about the role of a reporter in dealing with the subject of a news story and how journalism has to break from the narrative that subject wants while actually yay-saying that narrative in order to keep the subject engaged are important ones, especially these days of a media besieged by propagandists who are either too sensitive to understand that proper news outlets have a deeper responsibility or their lackeys who deliberately cloud what that exact responsibility is. Malcolm takes the case of a libel suit against a reporter by the convicted murderer he wrote about being guilty to examine the psychological dynamics behind journalism, trials and jury deliberations (as the libel trial ended in a hung jury before a settlement was reached). With discussions of lies vs. untruth, how we speak vs. what we hear, and fiction vs. nonfiction, Malcolm’s definitions are pretty vital now that entertainment has not only infiltrated the news box but assisted by an administration that heavily favors and spreads propaganda.

15 people found this helpful

Helpful

Alyssa A. Lappen

Fascinating

Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2018

Verified Purchase

At what point does a journalist "cross the line," as it were, from mere reporting to lying to obtain a story at any cost?

I read this piece when it first came out in two parts in the New Yorker in the March 13 and March 20 issues of 1987. It was fascinating then, and it has not become less so, in the intervening years, when I bought the book (again) for our daughter's college course in journalism.

Politeness with one's sources is always a good idea. But is it okay to lie, and to repeatedly lie outright to get a story as did Joe McGinniss. while he interviewed the military doctor accused of killing his wife?

In this case, the lies went beyond politeness, beyond simply allowing the source to think that the journalist was on his side, without saying as much.

And thus it was that McGinniss ended paying a large settlement to Jeffrey MacDonald, the convicted killer.

This story is not the be all and end all of journalists reporting on the press. But in its time, it was an excellent look at the lengths to which some go to get the story.

And since then, the lines have simply blurred and journalists become far more sloppy.

But that's a story for another book, another day.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

ilprofessore

Journalist on Journalism

Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2012

Verified Purchase

Janet Malcolm writes in the grand tradition of the old New Yorker writer, precisely and objectively about a difficult, heated subject. She sets out, quite courageously, to tell us why her fellow journalists are so easily corrupted or corruptible. Although they claim to be dispassionate reporters of the facts and only the facts, here she tells a rather horrifying story of a fellow journalist, Joe McGinniss, who, believing the man he was writing about was guilt of cold-blooded murder of his wife and children, pretended to be the man's best pal, defending his innocence in order to get the killer to unwittingly tell his story. Malcolm claims that most journalists avoid telling their subjects what they know or believe, and, although it is standard practice, she finds it ethically deplorable. This is a sad saga, in which the main players and the supporting cast are depicted vividly, unforgettably with the skill of a first-rate journalist. Malcolm is not afraid to tell us what she feels is wrong with this messy business of what is now essentially fiction disguised as non-fiction. By doing so, she stepped on few sensitive toes, but the truth is the truth, and no one tells it, or, for that matter, writes it better than she does.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

blaurotorange

True story

Reviewed in Germany on October 5, 2023

Verified Purchase

Great insights on a reporter's work

Shubhra

Insightful read

Reviewed in India on January 17, 2022

Verified Purchase

The book is filled with treasures, but a difficult read. Janet is truly a master of her field, and the book reflects it

Galopin

De l’éthique journalistique

Reviewed in France on September 13, 2019

Verified Purchase

Excellente mise en abyme de la responsabilité et du rôle du journaliste face à la vérité et au sujet traité. Existe-t-il des limites éthiques pour que la vérité éclate:? L'empathie souvent indispensable montrée envers un sujet (une personne) en vue d’obtenir des informations, des confidences, peut elle dévier vers une forme de complicité , peut on parler de trahison quand cette vérité éclate et qu’elle éclabousse le sujet traité?
Passionnante problématique !

Translate review to English

alex000444

Can't wait to read more of Janet Malcolm

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 14, 2019

Verified Purchase

Gives brilliant insight into the dilemma faced by journalists and indeed authors.

The McBeans

Insights from the inside

Reviewed in Australia on July 27, 2019

Verified Purchase

Superbly written and deeply thoughtful analysis of the processes, pitfalls and moral risks of serious journalism. It is particularly interesting to think about in this age of fake news when the expectation that newspapers of record will be largely truthful is being undermined daily. The dangers of fake news now appear not as those of misleading disinformation but of creating permissions for anybody to believe they are entitled to believe whatever they want; that is, to be entitled to their opinions.

Buy for others

Buying and sending eBooks to others

Follow the author

Image Unavailable

The Journalist and the Murderer Kindle Edition

Customers who bought this item also bought

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

From Library Journal

Review

From the Inside Flap

From the Back Cover

About the Author

Product details

Videos

About the author

Janet Malcolm

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries