Documentary, Journalism, and Storytelling as an Art

By Grace Golembiewski

Are documentary and journalism two separate mediums? I think it’s a question many in the industry grapple with, including myself. But for veteran photojournalist and editor Michael DelGiudice, his work melded the two mediums and blurred the line many often see when it comes to documentary and journalism.

Since 2006, DelGiudice has worked for WNBC-TV in New York City. The native Long Islander is an eight-time winner of the “Photographer of the Year” award from the National Press Photographers Association. He also won an Emmy award for his work on the documentary “Long Island Lighthouses” in 2001.

However, the long-time photog is also a father of two, a die-hard Mets fan, and has a soft spot for reality TV. Before our interview, he had just returned from shooting a water main break in New Jersey and was making the long trek back home through Manhattan and Queens, a two-hour drive in standstill New York Traffic.

“Literally, I got there, and within two hours, we were live on the air, and that’s adrenaline pumping, exciting, and whatever. But if I’m being completely honest, it’s not my favorite thing. My favorite thing is to work on projects.”

Throughout his career, between the hard news, DelGiudice shot four other documentaries, including one in Guatemala and another in Mexico. As someone who has shot for hard news and documentaries, I couldn’t help but wonder what he thought about the differences between the mediums; however, the photographer sees them as almost the same, including their ethical standards.

“I think because I have such a lengthy news background, I treat my time as when I was shooting documentaries as if I was doing news… Whether I’m telling someone’s story or telling the audience about something, whether it’s an event or someone’s life, or any of those things, I feel like I need to have the same ethical feel,” said DelGiudice. “So that line where it’s documentary as opposed to telling or giving the news to a viewer, to me, there’s no difference.”

Additionally, for the photojournalist, there are other similarities the two mediums share. He believes that documentary is art, yet journalism can also be art, just as a documentary can be as truthful and accurate as journalism.

“I truly feel like documentary is an art form, but there certainly are news elements to it, there’s no doubt. I think that’s honestly the best kind of documentary is that mixture of art and news,” DelGiudice said. He concludes that news and documentary are different forms of storytelling. I want to go one step further and say that since news and documentaries are different forms of telling a story, they are both art in their own ways.

The editor sees his work outside of the documentary framework, such as news features, as still being documentaries. He states these news features are almost mini documentaries. Because of the editing process and thoughtfulness it takes to create short news pieces; I can understand why he thinks this way.

The work I have done in my classes leads me to agree. Documentary and journalism go hand in hand. While some may see the two as separate mediums, I agree with DelGiudice that some of the work is the same. We both want to create an accurate representation with thoughtful sources and excellent imagery and, most importantly, tell an audience a captivating story.

At the end of the day, documentarians and reporters are storytellers who, like DelGiudice, use their viewfinders to capture the most beautiful imagery to bring a narrative to life.

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