This man— part investigative phenomenon, part badass journalist, part friendly conversationalist. When asked, “who is your favorite journalist and why?” George Packer swiftly came to mind and stayed there.
He is a playwright, a novelist and a reporter for The New Yorker. I met him last October after an interview at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg. He was intriguing to watch as he thoughtfully listened to the questions posed and responded with clear answers even when the asked was barely decipherable. His face had something interesting about it when Kelly McBride asked why people open up to him, he smiled saying, “it’s because I have a friendly face, or at least I think so.” I think so too.
I remember a lot of what he said because it was genuine and grounded, without the circumlocutory verbiage which makes my mind spin in desultory circles.
Though flourishing as a contemporary reporter his roots are deeply set in all those old-school ways and time-tested principles. He pays homage to history, tracks down old articles, does a lot of digging before beginning a new assignment and reads books. Things like: Mostly Martha, Exiles in Eden, Orwell, Nypal, Normal Wailer, Elison’s, Invisible Man are among his favorites and most importantly he reads poetry every night to keep his mind saturated in beautiful language.
Those nightly poetry readings are perhaps the trick to his redolent opening lines and the bits of feeling found in his reporting. His tactic: “Move them, change their mind a lot— bring the world to the reader.”
