The best-kept secret in journalism is that just about anyone could do it, the job is not that hard (except for the hours–those can be murder). So they have to make it look hard.
I have been, I guess, “a journalist” since the 1970s.
Like, how hard can it be to read cue cards? Or say what everybody else has been saying all day long?
It is a job that can be done well, and sometimes is. If only it weren’t so flaming easy to do it poorly!
Get rid of the teleprompters and the news anchors will fall silent. Kind of like Obama; he was viewed as a great speaker when reading a teleprompter, but in one-on-one interviews he stumbled and fumbled for words.
Interesting column. You learned how to do interviews by doing interviews, and writing by writing. Imagine, who would have thought of doing that? I learned how to write, by writing. And of course, by studying books and other resources pertaining to the craft. The other key, I am a reader, across all genera and categories.
My brother recently paid me a compliment about a story I wrote. “very nice…..how did you not do good in school ???????? you write like a pro…..!!!!” [The extra punctuation is his.]
He’s right, I dropped out of high school, got bad grades, failed English, I am still a very poor speller, and have trouble with outlines, thus, have never used one, so far, for any of my books. Writing a book was not a blip on my radar, until age 46 or so. So, I would say, most anyone could learn to write and become a journalist, or author, by taking heed to the advice and suggestions given by brother Lee.