Pulitzer winner Ken Armstrong on the importance of storytelling in investigative journalism

Ken Armstrong has reported, written, or edited many award-winning stories over his career, and that work has taken various forms — including traditional longform writing, podcasts, and television. But last year an experimental reporting project at Bloomberg News led him to explore an entirely new path: the world of web comics and graphic novels. 

The resulting story, “TrAPPed,” illustrated by Anand RK, and written by Suparna Sharma and Natalie Obiko Pearson, told the story of a neurologist in India who was held captive under "digital arrest” as part of an elaborate scam. The web comic was paired with a written longform narrative about the dark side of India's digital revolution. 

In May, the story was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary. It's just one example of the many ambitious stories Armstrong was hired to help bring to life at Bloomberg in his role as senior editor and narrative coach for global investigations. 

For this week's Nieman Storyboard podcast, I talked to Armstrong about the importance of storytelling in investigative journalism, and how narrative has been central to his work throughout his career. 

Show Credits

Hosted and produced by Mark Armstrong
Episode editor: Kelly Araja
Audience editor: Adriana Lacy
Promotional support: Ellen Tuttle
Operational support: Paul Plutnicki, Peter Canova

Nieman Foundation interim curator: Henry Chu
Music: “Golden Grass,” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)
Cover design by Adriana Lacy

Nieman Storyboard is presented by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard.