Thomas Morton is a writer and former correspondent for HBO's _Vice News_. He was at Vice from 2004-2019 and is a major character in Jill Abramson's _Merchants of Truth_.

“You have to go with your gut and I feel like that’s one of the most essential qualities in doing anything of the nature of what we did. Of making documentaries or reporting news or current events, you really have to have a good sense of intuition for who you’re dealing with, what they’re telling you, what you’re telling them, how you’re behaving. It’s all human interaction, you can’t govern that with hard and fast rules or with extremely set rules. Beyond the extreme ones there are always going to be murky areas. You have to be willing to accept that and work with those.”

Thanks to MailChimp and Pitt Writers for sponsoring this week's episode.

The Mastermind (Evan Ratliff • Random House • Jan 2019)

The Longform Podcast Live: The Mastermind book release party with special guests

@Babyballs69

Morton on Longform

"Oh, This Is Great" (Vice • Jan 2008)

"In the Land of the Juggalos—A Juggalo Is King" (Vice • Sep 2007)

[0:50] "News to Me" (Medium • Jan 2019)

[1:00] The Merchants of Truth (Jill Abramson • Simon & Schuster • 2019)

[20:45] Morton's archive at Vice

[23:50] "I Joined Three Cults Simultaneously" (Vice • Sep 2006)

[24:45] Aum Shinrikyo Wikipedia page

[35:30] "Tobaccoland" (Vice • May 2013)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices