Long Form Journalism Not Quite Dead Yet

For all the talk of the long form journalism as a dying art, I’ve yet to see it. In fact, it seems like the death of long form journalism is one of those lies told enough times to enough people that it becomes perceived as true. And while I hate to paraphrase Goebbels, he was right. If you watch enough talking heads on television and close your eyes long enough then you just might believe it. But look around. The New Yorker still publishes. So does the Paris Review. The Times Sunday Magazine‘s stories still get printed. But, ultimately, you cannot realistically subscribe to all your desired long form periodicals. That would be both fiscally and logistically difficult. Here is where the internet, long cited as the murderer of long form journalism, is in fact one of its greatest supporters.

I’d like to introduce our readers to two of my favorite sites, Longform.org and AL Daily. Both sites are edited aggregators of long form journalism, making the finest writing available to all with an internet connection. Think of them as a paradise for the modern dilettante (and I use that word in its original sense, not its more recent pejorative one.) On these two sites the true power of the internet shines through. Not as a destroyer of high culture, but rather as a conservator of it.

P.S. Remember to tell only your best friends. Wouldn’t want to crash either of those sites.

–Benjamin M. Riley