Last month, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in Florida ran a long personal essay called “The Cost of Life,” by a business reporter, Justine Griffin, who had decided to become an egg donor as a remembrance of a deceased childhood friend.
I learned about the article from a short piece at Poynter.org, which described it as a report of a year-long journey that “morphed from a personal essay to an investigative package.” Poynter’s Kelly McBride wrote that Griffin “had to deal with her own conflict of interest” as the story turned out not to be what Griffin had expected.
The story, in three chapters, with photography by Elaine Litherland, ran in print as a 32-page special section with no ads, Griffin reports on her website. The online version also includes video diaries and other extras.
After reading the story this morning, I think Poynter made a bit too much of the “morphing” of the story from personal essay to investigative piece. It is a personal essay from start to finish, and it is investigative only in the sense that Griffin interviewed everyone involved in her donation, other donors, doctors, officials at the donor agency, and others. A better descriptor than “investigative” might be “thorough.” It is a personal story that unfolded in a way that Griffin or her editors didn’t expect, which shouldn’t be too surprising–that’s what personal stories do, whether or not we write them down.
The top of the story was just a bit too slow, I thought, and it took a little too long to get to this graph:
This began as a way for me to honor a childhood friend who passed away and a hopeful account of my experience with the fertility industry. But it devolved into a tangle of broken promises, scary science and questionable experiences — ending with a ruptured cyst on my ovary and a fear that my future reproductive health may be in jeopardy.
But once I got there, Griffin had me.
As the story continues, we get to know Griffin, and it’s hard not to get caught up in her adventure. I never was entirely clear why she thought becoming an egg donor would honor her lost friend, but if it made sense to her, that was good enough for me.
Griffin tells the story in clear, straightforward language that draws us into the story. I almost forgot I was reading a newspaper story and had the sense that I was sitting at the kitchen table with Griffin while she was telling me her very personal story.
She is troubled that the people who want her eggs don’t want to communicate with her or know anything about her beyond the profile in the donor registry. More than once, she comes close to backing out. She details the drugs she took to prepare her for the donation, and relates discussions with doctors and others about the risks. She talks to other donors, some of whom had had serious complications as a consequence of egg donation. She cries, she becomes hopeful, she tells us more than she tells her parents, and we see pictures of her at every stage along the way.
You won’t find spoilers here. Griffin has already told us that she had adverse consequences. And she’s right when she tells us that the story involves broken promises and scary science.
“The Cost of Life” is well worth your time. If it had run in The New York Times, it would be news across the country now, and we would be seeing Griffin interviewed by Charlie Rose. In the media capital here in New York City, where we’re accustomed to thinking that we know everything, it’s important to be reminded that good journalism can be done anywhere.
Griffin’s personal essay, whether or not we describe it as “investigative,” is good journalism.
-Paul Raeburn
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