42. Journalist

A journalist (also called a newspaperman) is a person who practices journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues, and people while striving for viewpoints that aren't biased. Reporters are one type of journalist. They create reports as a profession for broadcast or publication in mass media such as newspapers, television, radio, magazines, documentary film, and the Internet. Reporters find sources for their work, their reports can be either spoken or written, and they are often expected to report in the most objective and unbiased way to serve the public good. A columnist is a journalist who writes pieces that appear regularly in newspapers or magazines. Depending on the context, the term journalist also includes various types of editors and visual journalists, such as photographers, graphic artists, and page designers.

He’s a hard drinking, soft spoken, burn=up=some=shoe=leather, sit=on=his=hiney sort of son=of=a-gun who’s seen it all before, and can’t wait to see it all again. A journalist is someone who gets shot at in a war zone so he can report back material that can’t be broadcast because it might be too disturbing. A journalist is someone who reads TelePrompTer better than anybody, and writes better than the guy who just won the Pulitzer. Journalists like: deadlines, bylines, a bigger news hole and free food. Journalists don’t like: deadlines, editors, cramped press facilities at major news events and media whores.

Journalists like to know how does it feel, and what’s the mood here now. Journalists don’t like to know how the Social Security system really works. A journalist is often found at news conferences, presidential visits, crime scenes, hospice vigils, and the sites of major snowfalls. A journalist is seldom found advertising his services on a website for gay escorts. Journalists sometimes make too much money getting out of the studio too seldom so they can mingle with other journalists who are resentful because they never get into the studio at all.

Journalists can be Anchors, but never Sales. They can be reporters, or just repeaters. A journalist looks down on celebrities until the day he becomes one. A journalist spends too much time covering a story that gets too little space so it can be skimmed by a reader who has too little time. Journalists can’t resist: miracle puppies. Children trapped in wells Killer bees.

Journalists almost always resist: stories with three or more sides, computer terminals without a Nexis account, angles that might make their colleagues think they were flaky. A journalist will fly halfway around the world to stand where a tsunami took place, and he’ll stand in freezing rain for two hours to point out that it’s wintertime. Journalists are more curious than anybody, attacked by everybody, and lent money by nobody. A journalist will share a quote, but won’t reveal a source. A journalist thinks the first amendment is the only one the founders really meant.