Self-motivation and determination are two of the main ideals of being a journalist. If a journalist doesn't have the desire to find and tell a story, they have no career. A journalist must know how to identify the facts, get to the bottom of the story and report back to the public, whether positive or negative. Janet Malcom states in the book The Journalist and the Murderer: “Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is happening knows that what he does is morally indefensible.” (Malcolm, 3) His opening words speak volumes about the “journalist and the murderer” and the lessons that can be learned. Young journalists can learn a lot from Malcom's book because it presents some troubling issues. A main question would be the author-subject relationship and where the writer-friend line exists. The Journalist and the Assassin tells the story of Joe McGinnis and Jeffrey MacDonald. McGinnis is an author who is trying to write a book about MacDonald who is convicted of killing his wife and two daughters. MacDonald wanted his voice to be heard and wanted to let the world know his side of the story. McGinniss follows the trial with MacDonald and his team of lawyers, going to all the hearings, hearing his side of the story, and even staying at MacDonald's condominium - which McGinniss took advantage of in the name of his book. McGinniss, from the beginning, never gave MacDonald a second chance on who would write Macdonald's story. McGinniss gave the impression that he was there as both an author and a friend, someone to trust. Ultimately, McGinniss wrote Fatal Vision in which MacDonald was accused of being a publicity-seeking womanizer who was also a latent homosexual. (Malcolm, 30 years old) After a... half of an article... about how journalism can influence a person's reputation. After the publication of Fatal Vision, MacDonald received a letter in prison from a reader. The reader was on vacation in Hawaii with his wife when he read the book and decided to write to the novel's star. JH, the Hawaiian vacationer, essentially told MacDonald that he should rot in prison and not receive parole in 1991. (Malcolm, 145) Fatal Vision introduced MacDonald's story to the world and to a much larger audience than the case would have happened if there had been. it wasn't a book. With the release of Fatal Vision, so many people failed to hear MacDonald's true voice, whether he was lying or telling the truth, the world would only see McGinniss's perspective on the murder and trial, until when Janet Malcolm didn't write The Journalist. and the killer. Works Cited The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcolm