Michael Vitez is best known as the winner of the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism for a series of stories, called
Final Choices, for
The Philadelphia Inquirer. He followed five people as they approached the ends of their lives, and he wrote powerful, intimate narratives about the decisions they made, the choices they faced. These were deeply moving personal stories, but also explained the dramatic changes underway in American society regarding how people die.
The most felicitous and celebrated accomplishment of late is his new book,
Rocky Stories: Tales of Love, Hope and Happiness at America's Most Famous Steps, published in November of 2006 by Paul Dry Books of Philadelphia. He wrote the book and his colleague Tom Gralish, a photographer, friend and Pulitzer Prize winner himself, took most of the photographs. They spent a year at the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, interviewing and photographing people from all over the nation and the world who came to run those steps like Sylvester Stallone in the 30-year old Academy Award winning film, Rocky.
Vitez has been a staff writer at The Philadelphia Inquirer since 1985, and he specializes in telling wonderful stories about people. His mission has always been to celebrate life, to tell stories that affirm, inspire and entertain. He has been all over America and several places in the world for the
Inquirer.
Vitez spent one year at the University of Michigan as a Michigan Journalism Fellow. He has taught writing for several semesters at The University of Pennsylvania, and for one semester as a Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton. He has lectured and given talks about writing and storytelling at Poynter Institute workshops, in newsrooms and classrooms around the region, and to many community groups. His philosophy is: "In a world overrun with facts, information, websites, cable channels, press releases and noise, I believe the best way to reach people is through stories. Stories unite us, nourish us, and are the best way to communicate."
Talk with Michael Vitez
J: Journalist
M: Michael Vitez
J: Do you follow your instinct to work?
M: Yes. You have to follow your instinct. That’s the best power you have, the best resource to your work.
J: You told the young people, especially the young journalists, that they must keep the passion to work. After you have been working for 30 years for the newspaper, how could you keep your passion?
M: My experience in the US is, when you are a young journalist, your editors tell you what to do. You have little control. But as you grow older, more successful and more confident, you get more control and more freedom to do stories that you choose. Now mostly I do stories that I choose, that I care about, and that interested me. That is how I am able to keep my passion for doing newspaper stories. I am able to have more choices in the kinds of stories I do. That’s the best explanation I have.
J: I am interested in your article Final Choice. Did you really stay with the people day by day?
M: Those stories were special. There were five stories in a series to win the Pulitzer Prize. They were very long. I spent a lot of time in each family. You know, the best writer can’t slip the best feature writing. The best feature writing comes from spending time with people. Those stories were powerful and good because I was engrossed to observe the family at very critical moments when they were making tough decisions and when the people die. That’s where the power of the stories came from. My newspaper gave me the freedom to spend the time. From thinking up the idea, reporting, to writing, I spent 7 months for everything.
J: How could you keep your own emotion when you heard the people were dying?
M: My attitude is I am a professional. My loyalty is to the story, not to the families. I want to write the best story I can. People let me into their life and the very critical moment because they trust me. They do not want my friendship. They do not want my tears. What they need is an accurate, truthful, honest, powerful story about their experiences. And when sad things go on, my job is to use my eyes to see and my ears to listen, to really observe, to take notes, so that I can write the scene very powerfully for everyone to read. If I get emotional, I cry and I tell you how sorry I am, I am not doing my job! My job is to write very moving stories, and accurately reflects the situations so that all the readers can understand.
J: It has been ten years since you won the Pulitzer Prize. Do you think the prize change your life?
M: It brought me more freedom. I can choose the kinds of stories I am interested in. I don’t think I am so famous. Everyone knows Pulitzer, but no one knows me in zhuhai.
J: For those young people who are going to be journalists, what’s your advice?
M: Don’t give up. You will get knock down, you will get rejected, you will get disappointed, you should get fasten on it. Keep trying. Don’t give up. That’s the first thing. And also, not everybody does the kind of journalism that I like to do. There are many different kinds of journalism. Some people love just to write news. Some people like the sports. All are important. So find the kind of journalism that brings you joy. It is most important to find something, a career or journalism, that makes you feel you are in the proper and meaningful position, and also brings you joy.
Student Journalist：Deng Weijun
Photographer：Li Xiaoyuan
Editor: Christy Zhao
