FILM NOIR RAY C. DOYLE

Is Journalism an art? Is writing fiction? Both take many years to attract an appreciative audience and work to keep that audience. Is journalism an art? Yes, it is. As a cub reporter, one of my earliest recollections was my editor telling me that every story must be factual and truthful and backed by sound research to prove authenticity. It was a hard life that I chose. After a couple of years, I realised how important it is to reveal what is essential in the world around us. In my case, as a new boy, local news. It’s a well-worn phrase, sometimes used in ridiculous situations, but the public does have a right to know about anything that costs taxpayers money – and that’s most things.

By the time I was twenty-two, I had worked for another local paper and started reporting on more important news such as local politics and crime stories. During this time, I received my first pat on the head from my editor. I exposed a local fraud within the local council chambers involving two councillors’ misuse of waste disposal funds. Further political reports and a blossoming association with a local member of parliament earned me the attention of a London broadsheet.

It was like starting again when I successfully applied and was offered a post there as a reporter. I wanted to get my teeth into politics, but I got the mundane assignments no one else wanted to my dismay. It took a further three years before I got what I wanted. A colleague went sick as a general election was announced, and I was put on the team. I interviewed the likes of cabinet ministers and prospective candidates. Asking the right questions that sometimes trip politicians up or embarrass them is something I learned from an old experienced reporter I was teamed up with. I asked him. Is journalism an art? Is writing fiction? He just smiled.

I became a foreign correspondent during the following years and spent plenty of time in Westminster and Whitehall. It was Brussels, though, where I gained quite a reputation, lifting the lid on a lot of corruption in the early days of the European Union. Those were the roughest years of my career. You can’t expose crime in the upper reaches of government without making a few enemies. Many of them tried using the law to gag me, but I stayed ahead of the pack due to strong backing from my boss and public outrage when my articles appeared. This was the sharp end of politics and the dirtiest. I got knocked around a few times, but that made me dig the dirt more to uncover the bad side that damages the integrity of the corridors of power and the public’s trust.

After living from one hotel to another, never knowing when I was going to get a break, I retired later than I could have. With a wealth of experience behind me, I decided to write fiction about a political columnist. My experience in politics and a long relationship (not friendly) with the security services involved heavily in government shenanigans helped make my stories believable. Is journalism an art? Yes, as artistic as fiction.

Today I write political and contemporary spy thrillers that expose how it is behind the plastic smiles and limp handshakes.

Is journalism an art? Is writing fiction? www.raycdoyle.com