The article discusses the experience of Joseph Mitchell, an American literary journalist who humanized the art of profiles, writing in a personal and emotional style for The New Yorker magazine from 1938 until 1996, and José Hamilton Ribeiro, a Brazilian journalist who used to work for Realidade magazine from 1966 through 1975 and now is a Globo TV special reporter. It also suggests the usability in Journalism of a more profound interview approach as a method to better analyze and comprehend complex realities. The present study aims at a reflection on the role of journalists as readers, writers and producers of meaning in the contemporary world, as well as on the effect of this profound interaction between environment and interviewers on the journalist’s personal and professional life.
