The best reporters I know are bright, persistent, honest, curious and courageous. If you asked them to explain their success, this is what they might say:
Helen: A good reporter is a generalist, able to deal with a number of topics and talk with a variety of people. He or she can see the unusual, the ironic (讽刺的) in the everyday things. She can think through all the possibilities and organize a large amount of information to find the important parts.
Jack: A good reporter is quick. Once he is assigned a story, he goes after it. He makes the calls and keeps trying if he doesn't make contact. Besides, a good reporter is curious. He or she takes pleasure in the new, and in the old, in the history or previous examples that got us where we are. He enjoys reading and appreciates the details.
Susan: A good reporter is pleasant. She adopts a friendly nature with those she meets. She is a grateful guest, with a belief in the basic goodness of people. She conveys to those she meets that she is tolerant of them and their ideas, even though she does not like them or what they stand for.
Tom: A good reporter is honest. He seeks the truth and acts independently. He does what he says he's going to do, and doesn't do things he promised to avoid. He returns his calls, and he's willing to say no. He's obsessed with accuracy and double checks his facts with call-backs. He sees both sides to every issue.
Richard: As John Franklin, reporter, author and teacher, said, "Back when I first started, I thought intelligence was the most important attribute a reporter could have. I have since changed my mind. You do have to be intelligent, but the big thing is courage. Courage to open your mind and let the whole confusing world in. Courage to always be the ignorant one, on somebody else's turf. Courage to stand corrected. Courage to take criticism. Courage to grow with your experiences. Courage to accept what you don't understand. Most of all, courage to see what is there and not what you want to think is there."
