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Rules to be a good journalist

12 and a half rules to be a good journalist
(nod to Howard Owens where I saw it linked)

They are all good rules. Some more obvious than others. But it’s a list worth keeping in mind each morning as you wake up.

My favorites: Be a thriver, not a survivor (No. 7); Keep learning every day (No. 4); and Never be embarassed to ask stupid questions (No. 2).

I also like rule 11, although it may have the most clichés in a single paragraph I’ve ever seen:

11. WAKE UP ANGRY, AMBITIOUS: Get the fire in your belly to do something, set things right. Respond to injustice, inhumanity, corruption. Comfort the afflicted, afflict the comfortable. Don’t think it is somebody else’s job. Be the change you want to see.

And of course, rule 12 is just what the short bio about me on the side of this blog says: I love what I do. As I often advised some of the younger students at Kent when they asked me for advice about whether to stick with it or change majors. If you don’t love it, get out. You’re not going to be paid enough to hate your job. But if you do, even 12-hour days and enough stress to crack most people isn’t going to deter you from rule 1, chase your dreams.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 3rd, 2007 at 3:00 pm and is filed under Ideas, Journalism, Lists. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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