Why the graphic novel will save business journalism

Aziz Ali of PSFK.com interviews Caleb Melby, the Forbes employee who took on the responsibility of writing “The Zen of Steve Jobs,” a graphic novel that the business magazine just published.

Here is an excerpt:

How does the creation of this graphic novel reflect on the Forbes brand?

People understand that Forbes has a history of being very minutia and facts oriented. Having that as a foundation to build on and tell stories, they become all the more richer.

But Journalism as an industry is in a state of crisis. It has been for a good 3-4 years, and we have new leadership here in Forbes under Lewis D’vorkin who’s been spearheading our New NewsRoom Initiative and he actually does a blog post on that at the beginning of every week about what we’re doing to stay true to being innovative and progressive in how we convey business news. We’re basically making sure that we’re using all the tools at our disposal to deliver quality news. We’ve taken on a contributor model, so we’re able to bring in other experts into our content.

It’s also a nerve-wrecking time for Journalism, but it’s exciting that you can pitch a project like this because you’re looking for all possible answers because ears are eager to listen. And so, despite being a graphic novel, it’s very much grounded in and in-tune with the Forbes brand. It’s telling the story of a great business leader, telling it in a way that is engaging.