What do you need to do as a reporter?

Teacher Miao of Sanlian Life Weekly put forward three conditions for being a good reporter. In fact, being a normal person is the same.

First, be curious and curious;

second, you should have the ability to communicate, understand what others say, and make others willing to talk to you;

Third, you should have a feeling for words.

In addition, there is another sentence that you can choose to use: What is a good reporter? A good reporter is one who can grasp the situation quickly. But also can exchange needed goods and have the spirit of cooperation.

Many journalists are born with curiosity, a heartfelt interest, almost possessed, and they have to get to the bottom of everything. Another important condition is to expose wrong behavior. In addition, great journalists are also interested in balance and justice. There is also the ability to write, which is hard to get. Once you have it, it will become a part of your nature. A good reporter is like a good camera.

Many people want to know about the traditions of The New York Times. The challenge of this job comes from finding the right interviewee first. If you want to tell the story of this newspaper in the 2th century, no one is more suitable than Ar thur Gelb, and the publisher of this newspaper thinks so, so I asked him to write a memoir, City Room, which records his rich experience as an assistant editor in The New York Times for 45 years. After retiring in 1999, he still has an office in the newspaper, which is one of the courtesy he received as a legendary newspaper.

On the morning of May 21st, local time, Gebu answered my phone at new york's home and told his story in The New York Times. Different from the old man who imagined that his middle age was nearly eighty years old, his voice was clear and powerful, and his thoughts were methodical. His opening remarks were a bit unexpected: "Next week will be the 6th anniversary of my joining The New York Times. I started working in late May 1944, and now it is 24, and May will soon end, so it is 6 years!"

A good reporter is born

21st century business herald (hereinafter referred to as 21st Century): You have worked in The New York Times all your life. Who is the most interesting editor you know and why?

Arthur Gebu (hereinafter referred to as Gebu): The most interesting editor is, of course, A.M. Rosenthal. He was a great reporter at first, and he was born with the instinct to report. He was originally a student reporter in new york City University. It is a free school, mainly for children of European immigrants. European immigrants come from poor families and want their children to be educated and have a better future. It's not easy to get into this school. You must get very, very good grades in high school. Rosenthal went to this school and was the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper, so The New York Times asked him to be a student reporter-at that time, our newspaper had student reporters in various colleges, who were responsible for reporting the news of our school. Rosenthal did so well that he got the official position in the newspaper a few weeks before graduation, and he accepted it immediately and never graduated! He is two years older than me, and he showed unusual talent from the beginning. Soon after the end of World War II and the founding of the United Nations, he began to report on the news of the United Nations, doing better than others. Later, he was sent overseas, first to India, then to Poland, and his report won the Pulitzer Prize, then to Japan, and then he was recalled to China as an editor by eager senior editors to take charge of the local news department. As a deputy, I have the opportunity to observe his genius up close. In fact, he is probably the most talented reporter and editor I know in the newspaper building, which has a great influence on me. I almost followed his step by step, but in a different direction. When I was a reporter, he liked international news, while I preferred cultural news, so I became the chief cultural reporter and then became a cultural editor. Then he asked me to join his local news department as a deputy. Our cooperation is very close, and so is the promotion path. He is always one step ahead of me.

21st Century: You mentioned the instinct of reporting. Can you see this thing from the candidates?

Gebu: I'm sure you can see it from his articles, including reports and interviews. However, I always feel that many journalists are born with curiosity, a heartfelt interest, almost possessed, and they have to get to the bottom of everything. As long as they have this instinct, they will have the important conditions of being a great reporter, that is, trying to get more information, writing a report completely and thoroughly, and pursuing accuracy.

another important condition is to expose the wrong behavior, which is very important to many talented journalists I know. In addition, great journalists are also interested in balance and justice. They want to interpret the facts, but they also know that they must try their best to be balanced and fair. Great reporting embodies all these characteristics.

There is also writing ability, which is hard to get. Once you have it, it will become a part of your nature. A great reporter can make readers seem to witness the fire, crime or battlefield he reports. A good reporter is like a good camera. As long as we look back at the reports before the popularization of cameras and television, we will find that the great American journalists' written reports on events like the Civil War are so vivid that you can see every detail of the battlefield accurately at once, as if you were really there, standing with the reporters.

21st Century: As you said, that was before cameras and television became popular. Now that technology is so advanced, what will happen to newspapers that pay attention to written reports? For example, can it compete with television?

Gebu: Ordinary newspapers can't, but great newspapers can, because the best TV programs can really achieve good results in reporting, but they can't record all kinds of things happening in the world for years, analyze them and show all aspects of a specific thing we want to know. Television is only a passing sight, and usually prefers news with action. For example, in the case of war or disaster, of course, no one can beat TV. They can send continuous pictures from the scene, but newspapers can't-it's not without exception. For example, the photos sent back by Life magazine from the Normandy landing site are mainly from the hands of Robert Capa. It can be said that his photos overwhelm the documentary reporting the landing situation to some extent, because your attention can be focused on the excellent composition of the soldiers' faces and photos. A photo can be more powerful than a documentary, and a great newspaper has the ability to report all the hundreds of important news that happened that day and make a thorough and detailed description, which TV can't do. Television mainly pleases another audience, which is a little lower than that of The New York Times.

21st Century: Do you think that to be a good editor, you must have experience as a reporter?

Gebu: Of course, there is no doubt! I don't believe that you can skip the reporter's pass and still be a good editor. It's probably no problem to be a general editor. You must be able to understand where the challenges faced by journalists are, how to overcome them, what writing problems may be caused by the pressure of deadline, how to solve the problem of how to obtain facts quickly, and how to obtain facts from different channels. The obstacles often lie in collecting facts and writing a beautiful and error-free report. This is a reporter's daily experience, year after year, and only a journalist can understand it. I don't understand why someone can teach journalism without being a reporter or editor, and I don't believe that someone can become a good editor without being a reporter. I would never allow this to happen when I was in charge.

21st Century: What do you think of school education? Can schools teach us how to be good journalists or editors?

Gebu: Since I first joined the newspaper, I think Meyer Burger is the greatest and most literary writer among American journalists. He is poor and has many brothers and sisters. At the age of 12, he has to work to help support his family. He has never received any formal education, but he likes reading. His wife is a teacher. Help teach him. He became the best writer in American newspapers. So you can teach yourself to be a journalist without formal education. But if you plan to report on a specific field, such as science or architecture, you need to be educated in this field. If you say comprehensive news, you don't have to, but you should be smart and like reading, have the desire to learn and be able to teach yourself. If you like reading to the point where you are hungry, reading the works of Shakespeare and other great writers, historians and poets, and learning about current events through newspapers such as The New Yorker, and you have a natural ability to absorb information and express your ideas beautifully, you will certainly be qualified for the job of a reporter. Editors must be tolerant of

21st Century: You also mentioned many stories of great journalists in the book. It seems that they are difficult to get along with. How do you deal with them as an editor and make them a cooperative team?

Gebu: All talented people are difficult to get along with! I have never seen a talented or even talented writer who is easy to get along with. Because they are always anxious and eager for recognition, they don't like people telling them how to write articles. I am also a writer, so I know how to deal with them. Just be nice to them! Chat with them, have lunch, listen to their complaints, try to solve their problems, get to know their wives or husbands, keep a concerned attitude and appreciate their talents. I like such a person, a talented person can always have an impact on others. Editors can't think they are the best and must be tolerant, which doesn't mean that editors can't strictly demand and set high standards.

21st Century: It seems that one of the differences between editors and journalists is that editors are more tolerant.

Gebu: Yes, the editor may think that a talented reporter has chosen the wrong direction to report, but he must be very tolerant and try to understand how to bring the other side back to the right track. Not all editors are good editors, but there are second-rate editors. A great editor must have rich reporting experience, tolerance, patience, understanding, willingness to listen and certain sensitivity. He must also have understanding and sympathy, and be willing to support and listen to each other. Only in this way will the reporter feel that the editor supports himself, and he will begin to respect the talent and personality of the editor and be willing to accept the changes requested by the editor.

21st Century: But as an editor of a daily newspaper, how can you be patient under such pressure when the deadline always seems to come in an instant?

Gebu: Of course, sometimes you really lose patience. For example, there was only a few minutes before the deadline. I should have signed the manuscript first and improved it in the next issue, but I wanted to report the news comprehensively so much that I made an impossible request-let the reporter rewrite the whole report. As a result, he fainted in the middle of the newspaper. This is because of the pressure to pursue perfection, so that we often forget that we are all mortal.

21st Century: Under such circumstances, it is not easy for everyone to unite to cope with the pressure. Can we say that one of the secrets of this newspaper's success lies in its harmonious and friendly atmosphere?

Gebu: The success of this newspaper stems from the fact that it has been insisting on hiring the best people for many years. Once there are many talented people working together, there will be an inspiring environment to inspire everyone to do their best. When the 9.11 incident broke out, we sent all talented journalists to various places to report, and as a result, we won seven Pulitzer Prizes for the newspaper. This is the way of big news. We have so many personnel reserves that we can find the most suitable person as long as something big happens. Talent inspires talent. Once you find yourself in a talented environment, you will always try to show your skills. This is why The New York Times can maintain itself as the most influential newspaper in the United States. It also misses the news and wrestles here and there, but its greatness lies in always striving for perfection. Newspapers change with ideas

21st Century: Can you tell me something about the culture of your newspaper, and how does the editor-in-chief ensure that successors understand and inherit this culture?

Gebu: The way I received training is a good example. When I was working, you could only take one step at a time, starting as a reporter, or as I did, you first became a reporter who ran public security news, learned what the police and criminals were doing, learned all the skills of collecting necessary facts, and knew how to get to the scene of a case before the police or elicit the truth from officials. Public security news can make you master these skills quickly, and then you can probably run comprehensive news and sit in the newspaper news department and other editors to assign tasks, and any topic is possible; Next, you may get a special line, such as the city hall line or the hospital line I ran. Step by step, until you fully understand this newspaper, the idea it represents becomes a part of your body and mind. When you become an editor, you will not only go through this process, but also learn a lot of skills from conversations with senior journalists. You will inherit the tradition of newspapers-fairness, balance and accuracy-from them, and you will be able to assign tasks to journalists and edit their reports, and do better every day until you are confident that you can determine the direction of the newspaper.

21st Century: In the past 6 years, great changes have taken place in newspapers and journalism. How do you think The New York Times has adapted to these changes?

Gebu: This has to start from the beginning. You must remember that The New York Times existed in 1851. In 18 96, AdolphOchs, an unknown newspaper publisher in Tennessee, heard that The New York Times might go bankrupt, so he bought it. Ochs was an ideal newspaper publisher, and he wanted to transform The New York Times into a great newspaper. For example, he firmly believes that if you want to be an educated person, you should understand the changes in the world. So he put international news in a position second only to the front page. This is contrary to the practice of most newspapers at that time. He also determined some specific principles, such as hiring the best international journalists and the best cultural commentators to create a great newspaper. This newspaper has gone through more than 1 years of development, and its foundation is so solid that if there is any change, readers can always keep up and accept it as long as the speed is not too fast. They may not like some new things in newspapers, such as new sections and columns, but as long as the basic methods of doing news have not changed, there will be no problem. The goal of all these efforts is to continue the foundation laid by early publishers. Change occurs because the world changes, and newspapers have to change accordingly. Sometimes it may go too far in a certain direction, but eventually the newspaper will stabilize after the change, and we will find that it is still the great newspaper.

21st Century: Speaking of publishers, you also said in your book that your publishers never rely on public opinion polls to determine what readers really need, so how do you know when and what changes should be made?

Gebu: When I say the world is changing, I mean our standards are changing. We describe sex more today than we did 25 years ago, as well as homosexuality and new diseases like AIDS. Things that seem important today may not have been taken seriously before, for example, we didn't write about homosexuality 25 years ago, and we didn't pay much attention to the changes of women as a group. When I joined the newspaper, there were no black journalists, and there were only a handful of female journalists. In the past, it was not convenient for Jews to go abroad ... In short, the world changed, the concept changed, and the newspaper changed with it. Sometimes newspapers even cause changes, such as newspaper reports on the Vietnam War and Watergate, and today we report on cloth.