Theme 5. JOURNALISM IS A HARD LIFE

A. Before you read - think and discuss

1. What makes a good journalist?

2. How should a journalist write?

2. What kind of people should a journalist be interested in?

Journalism is a Hard Life

What sort of people are journalists? What qualities and qualifications do they possess?

If you accept the picture so often given on the movie or television screen, newspapermen are hard-bitten, rude, hat-wearing, shouting peo­ple who unravel crime mysteries, call their editor “Chief’, and seem to have unlimited expenses. Beware of that picture.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary describes a journalist as “one whose business is to edit or write for a public journal”. That’s all.

Journalism is a hard life. It can be exciting, but-it can be sometimes boring. It can be frustrating, too. It can be demanding and so make it dif­ficult or impossible for you to do a lot of things that other people do in their spare time. It can separate you from your family for a great amount of your time; some journalists see their school-going children only at weekends. It can cut you off from a good deal of social life with your friends, and it can make it almost impossible for you to know when you will be free and what time you will have to call your own.

Despite this, those who are journalists can imagine few ways of life that are more rewarding, despite the drawbacks and frustrations of their profession. Most sub-editors, particularly night sub-editors, lead a hard life, shut off from personal contact with the outside world; but many of them have been reporters and have known the thrill of meeting important people and of writing a good story - the excitement of being a journalist.

To be a good journalist you must have a great deal of curiosity. You must like people and be interested in what they do, you must be able to get on easy and friendly terms with men and women of all sorts, however much they may differ from each other or from you. Journalism is no place for the shy person who finds it difficult to talk to strangers. He must be able to write, not necessarily at the standard of great writers, but in a simple and lucid fashion and, above all, quickly, and in short sen­tences which convey concisely what is meant.

A reporter is responsible to his chief of staff. He is told to refer mat­ters which involve decisions to the chief of staff.

But the chief of staff is not with him when he is reporting the pro­ceedings of Parliament or some meeting; not with him when he is inter­viewing an important person; not with him when he is reporting an event involving loss of life, a bushfire or a flood. There the reporter is on his own, with nobody to turn to for advice. There he has to make his own decisions and shoulder responsibility. A good journalist is not easily re­buffed. He must have a good deal of self-reliance and push and energy and initiative, if you think you can measure up to these standards try to take up journalism as a career.

Ask anyone in the business what it takes to make a newspaperman and you are likely to get the whole catalogue of human virtues in answer.

You will be told, for example, that you have to be unusually curious, that you have to like people and understand them, have feeling and com­passion for your fellow-man, and be able to make him talk to you. Natu­rally, you have to have a compulsive urge to write, be able to express yourself clearly, enjoy reading, and be ready to study beyond office hours. You should of course be willing to work hard. You should have not only an ordinary education but an extraordinary broad one. On top of this you should have a pleasant personality, be sincere, enthusiastic, have a sense of humour, be dependable, sensitive, idealistic, dedicated, open- minded and responsible.

...I shouldn’t worry too much whether you have this or that quality, let alone a couple of them. The chief question is whether the idea of be­ing a reporter attracts you.

I) Say if these sentences are True or False:

1. Journalism is one of the most difficult jobs, which can be sometimes either exciting or boring.

2. It’s not a strong rule to have a great deal of curiosity to be a good journalist.

3. Journalists must like people and be interested in what they do; they must be able to get on easy and friendly terms with audience of all sorts.

4. A reporter or a journalist is responsible to his chief of staff.

5. Journalists, reporters are told to refer mat­ters which involve decisions to the chief of staff.

6. The chief of staff is always with him when he is reporting the pro­ceedings of Parliament or some meeting; with him when he is inter­viewing an important person.

7. Journalists do not have to have a compulsive urge to write, be able to express themselves clearly.

8. It’s not important that journalists should have a pleasant personality, be sincere, enthusiastic, have a sense of humour, be dependable, sensitive, idealistic, dedicated, open- minded and responsible.

9. Journalism is very frustrating job.

10. . Most sub-editors, lead a hard life, shut off from personal contact with the outside world.

II) Answer the questions below in full sentences:

1. How are journalists sometimes shown on the movie or television screen?

2. Have you seen any films about journalists? Comment on them.

3. How does the Concise Oxford Dictionary define the word “journalist”?

4. Why does the author think that journalism is a hard life?

5. How does the author describe the way journalists should be able to write?

6. Who is the reporter responsible to?

7. Why is it so important for a reporter to be able to make his own decisions?

8. How chief of staff influences on the work of journalists?

9. Who is a good journalist?

10. Why a journalist should have a pleasant personality, be sincere, enthusiastic and have a sense of humour

III) a) Match the expressions with the corresponding definitions

b) Сomplete the sentences by filling in the gaps with the words from the box.

dependable, virtues, dedicated, primary, accurate, unbiased, rewarding, a great deal of, current, dissemination, edge, interchangeable, pleasant

1. A _______________professional prepared to work long hours for little money.

2. Journalists try to pass on an __________, _________________picture to their readers.

3. The journalists’ ____________objective is to educate, entertain and inform.

4. It is difficult to imagine more _______________way of life than journalism.

5. A journalist should have a__________ personality, be sincere, enthusiastic, be ___________, dedicated, responsible.

6. Ask anyone what it takes to make a journalist and you are likely to get the whole catalogue of human________________ in answer.

7. A journalist is a person who practices journalism, the gathering and_______________of information about ______________events and people.

8. To be a good journalist you must have________________curiosity.

9. Many people consider a journalist_______________ with a reporter.

10. University graduates entering journalism should consider they have perhaps a competitive ______________________on those who have not been to university.