Presenting the New York Times '36 Hours' Series

Slide from our presentation

On Monday, myself and my friend Maddie Miele presented to our mobile social journalism class about the "36 Hours" series that the New York Times (NYT) has created as part of their travel site.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this series, "36 Hours" is a sort of travel guide made for people who are exploring a location in a weekends time. In retrospect, I wish that I had used this resource when I was studying abroad in Barcelona because we did various trips that were about 36 hours long. In these stories, NYT contributors write out a detailed schedule to hit all the important spots (in their opinion) for selected cities. At the beginning of each story, the journalists highlight key stops, where to eat and drink, attractions, shopping, lodging and transportation. Then, they get into the detailed itinerary.

In our presentation, we discussed the process of putting together these pieces, how this series was impacted during covid and what that shift looked like, the reboot following the pandemic, some of the writers and the stories, the formatting, the social media of NYT Travel and promotional work that goes into this.

The class had a really good discussion surrounding this. Some students were asking whether or not the publication provided less pricy alternatives for their recommendations. Others were questioning the overall ethicality of this series, being that it is catering to people in privileged positions who can afford this type of travel and also, these stories may be generating tourism to small cities that are not looking for this influx of tourists taking over their space.

I found all of these points to be extremely warranted considering the topic. One thing that it did get me thinking about however, was is there a space for this type of writing in journalism?

As a 22-year-old graduating from college, I don't think I am in any position to be doing the travel described in these pieces (financially). However, I do really love reading these stories. I feel as though I am getting a lens into the city and what a trip there could potentially look like. I also think that these stories do give a little bit more of an understanding of the culture. Even if these are just some key spots to hit, they are spots making up the overall culture. Additionally, a lot of these stories are written by local journalists so that's a cool perspective that we're getting.

That also makes me think, if I am reading this for pleasure and potentially down the line as a guide, when I'm scrolling through for happiness and looking at these trips as a pipe dream, am I reading true journalism?

This was sort of a topic that got brought up in our discussion, of if these travel journalists are getting paid or sponsored to stay in various locations and writing about them, do air quotes belong around the word journalist, in saying "travel journalist"?

I do think there is a component of marketing coming into play here, if there is a paid promotional component for these brands, but I also firmly believe that if these journalists are sharing an itinerary out of the kindness of their heart and with knowledge of the location, this is most definitely journalism. You're reporting on a place and experience.

I'd love to know how other people feel about this topic! Feel free to let me know in the comments.