InstaPundit is linking to a lot of stuff about the suspension of Rick Bragg who, like Janet Cooke, has received a pulitzer. Bragg wasn't guilty of making up a story, but having his stories ghost written by stringers. The sample of his writing reminded me of the beginning of a short story rather than a news report. Is this what journalism is about? I find this kind of newswriting inherently suspect--it suggests a self-conscious attempt to imitate creative writers and it is seldom compelling as, for example, the crime reporting of Edna Buchanan. One gets the feeling that most reporters are closet novelists or the next Bob Woodward, David Halberstram or Tom Wolfe. Some of them will be, but most won't and this won't get them there any faster. Michael Kelly is a better model. Otherwise you could end up like Paul Krugman or Maureen Dowd.