On Long-form Journalism

Say hi to George, everyone. "Smile if you just got accepted to Yale!" pic.twitter.com/ZhKAGirkhk
— Billy Baker (@billy_baker) December 17, 2013

We can all go home now; the Internet's been won.
If you're a fan of good journalism, or the Boston Globe, or both, then you've likely seen the story Globe reporter Billy Baker posted to his Twitter account on Tuesday afternoon. It's the heart-warming follow-up to a story he did a couple of years ago on two brothers, children of a single Vietnamese mother, who climbed up through one of Boston's meanest neighborhoods and into the realm of the college educated.
Baker's mentions have been burning all day, and rightfully so; the younger brother received his acceptance letter to Yale, and he wanted to share a wonderful story with his readers and followers.
I'm happy for Johnny and George, the two brothers profiled by Baker. I'm just as happy for Billy, who got to tell their story, and for his chance to stay with these two young men -- treating them as more than mere sources to an award for enterprise reporting.
But I couldn't help but ponder on this story, and put it into the current journalism world. Namely, although this story is only a couple of years old, I wonder if it would pass in today's newspaper climate.
In the world of online news, social media reports and instant readership, would this story have come to full fruition? Would a publisher of any newspaper, yet alone one the size of the Globe, allow a reporter as much time as Baker received to finalize this story?
The countless hours riding the bus to and from school with the boys. Attending all of their classes. Eating dinner with them. Sitting in the office of their school's headmaster.
Could this have been done while posting 3-5 blog posts per day and filling the ever-increasing "news hole" where today's news is old news 15 minutes from now?
I don't have an answer. I want to say yes, that some publisher out there would allow it, that some reporter would tackle such an assignment.
But I don't know.
While this reporter is hitting the pavement to flesh out the perfect long-form story, there are countless blog posts, recaps, breaking news alerts and "analyses" being posted -- even on his own newspaper's website. The lack of contribution from this reporter means fewer clicks each day, and fewer advertising dollars that go with them.
If it wouldn't happen today, that's a shame. Johnny and George deserved to have their story told two years ago, just as there are hundreds of Johnnies and Georges out there who deserve the same treatment tomorrow.
The only question is: who is going to tell that story?