Sensibility in Longform Journalism: Empathy, Craft and Emotional Intelligence

On Black Saturday, February 7, 2009, 173 people died, among the worst of Australia's bushfire tragedies and a ubiquitous fear when those blustery, hot westerly winds blow at the height of an Australian summer. Human carelessness or recklessness is often the cause, but 13 percent are at the hands of an arsonist. This study examines the techniques and craft Chloe Hooper employs to create The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire, which investigates the fires in the Latrobe Valley, east of Melbourne. "Cinematic quality" is a term often used to describe exemplary longform narrative and this study uses a cross-disciplinary enquiry interrogating archetypal documentary filmmaking to discover a nexus between the two forms. Hooper is neither a journalist nor a literary journalist, yet writes with a literary journalism sensibility, her storytelling haunting and deeply memorable. Experimenting with a cross-disciplinary view-employing Bill Nichols's documentary film analysis and techniques crystallized by Constance Hale-this textual analysis of one section of The Arsonist posits empathy and emotional intelligence as integral components of a literary journalism sensibility before exploring what an exemplary piece of this form looks like on the page, and how it is rendered.