What do Journalists Do?

Basic tasks of a Journalist. Or specifically, what reporters do

No, they don’t always necessarily roam around with pens wedged in the flap of their ears and a small discolored writing pad sticking out of their shirt pockets. Or cameras, notepads and ball pens spilling out of military-type vest jackets.  

In spite of hypocrisy that 'new world journalism' have encouraged, paid-news and the utopist nostalgia of snob-nosed Journalists, I have always believed in this very basic tenet: Journalists must be governed by the desire for the plain truth about ‘something’ and not only inform the society of it, but also evaluate and interpret it before presenting it to the society. In this age of intrigue, corruption and manipulation and economic ‘interests’ digging out the truth is not always a case of calling a spade a spade.

Primarily, the perceived role of a journalist is in the collection and dissemination of information about current events, people, trends, and issues. 

What do News Reporters do?

 

The reporter researches and presents information in certain formats of mass media – print (newspapers), broadcast (television and radio) or online (new through the Internet). So the job basically include:

• Gathering facts from the spot of an event/incident/case 
• Interviewing people and authoritative voices that can offer credibility, factually-correct, contextually-sound and verifiable information
• Meeting with people and gathering opinions/data/information to support the occurrence of an event, for instance
• Compile the gathered information and write a "story" (In Journalism, any news report is called a "story")
• Publish the story  

The job also naturally means a good nose is an indispensable asset; to smell a story out of nothing; a candidate needs to be innovative, creative, active and analytical and yes, courageous. 

Being a very-high-stress career itself, journalism is not for every bright-eyed lad that walks into a newspaper or a television news channel with a fat CV. Few stick long enough to be actually respected as a journalist. The truth is, the work of a journalist is not participation in the exchanges of the greater global economy, or in the dissertation of diplomatic etiquette and egalitarian poise: His work is service, service to people and society, independent of influence – or at least that is what the good principles stipulate.

Al Ngullie
The Morung Express, India

©2012 Journalism Jobs Guide
 
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