Pulling back the curtain on journos’ learning curve

“I think we gave people kind of a way to sit with the information, like a perspective,” says NPR’s Adam Davidson in describing the narrative approach behind “Giant Pool of Money,” the award-winning This American Life documentary that delivered the first, definitive explanation of the sub-prime mortgage crisis. “You know, we’re kind of shocked or sometimes angry. We’re often confused, but we can figure it out.” Revealing the journalists’ “process of discovery,” Davidson says in this video interview by the Neiman Journalism Lab, strengthened the credibility of the documentary. “[B]ecause it’s closer to the actual truth, and it’s closer to the world that our audience experiences on a day-to-day basis.” Davidson collaborated with TAL‘s Alex Blumberg in reporting “Giant Pool of Money,” which became the launching pad for Planet Money, the ongoing NPR podcast and blog on global economics.