PressEthic

Kyle Zirpolo lived every parent's nightmare. Or at least, his nine year old self claimed he did. In a recent Los Angeles Times Magazine article, Zirpolo opens up about his life as the center of a national storm regarding his (false) accusation that he was molested by staff members of his preschool.

The article, which is both disconcerting and fascinating, is presented with an odd twist. Zirpolo tells his own story with the help of a journalist, rather than the journalist telling Zirpolo's story through select quotes and the benefit of distance. The byline of the piece reads "By Kyle Zirpolo, as told to Debbie Nathan."

Why did the Los Angeles Times choose to run an "as told to" article, and how acceptable is this practice in journalism at large?

The New York Times frequently runs "as told to" articles, but they tend to focus on softer things like business profiles, travel or real estate.

Some outlets, like the website Orato, focus on "as told to" articles in the belief that using only the subject's words and phrases will make the article accurate and truthful. And certainly when covering a subject like recanting accusations of child molestation, any deviation from or interpretation of the subject's point of view compromises accuracy.

But at the same time, it's hard to accurately describe "as told to" articles as journalism, because they lack that critical element of distance. A reporter is there to pry, to not necessarily take someone at his word, to place the interview into a large context and compare it with others who may disagree. This isn't to say that first person accounts are not journalism. But the problem with "as told to's" is that they aren't first person, but they aren't third person. The journalist is lurking in there somewhere, and it's hard for the reader to see where strict accuracy ends and lyrical embellishment begins.