One of the many perks of being a journalist is being asked “Oh, so you write lies then?!” when you tell people your profession.
There’s really nothing like split second judgement and assumptions to bridge the gap between two strangers.
Knowing, though, that the majority of people take this sort of attitude to journos is one of the things that spurs me on to be a great journalist and produce interesting, entertaining and factually correct work. It is one of the reasons I have forked out nearly £10k on a journalism degree and £200ish on NCTJ qualifications.
So then, to be told by a guest speaker in uni last Friday to “forget your morals” in order to get on in journalism, felt like a bit of a slap in the face from someone I thought I could/would/should consider an ally in “the war” on journos.
I should set the scene. The week previous our guest speaker was James Brabazon. A man who, I think, there are not enough positive adjectives for.
He has reported from seventy countries, including Liberia and Afghanistan. He has won a handful of awards, been published in all my favourite broadsheets and been broadcast on BBC, CNN, Channel 4 and the Discovery Channel.
When he spoke, you sat up and listened. Coursemates and I agreed afterwards that we learnt more from him in two hours than in two dozen normal lectures.
So then, last week I was looking forward to more inspirational anecdotes from a well-established journalist.
As a journalism graduate from LJMU she knew full well the panic gripping most of us as we fast approach the “real world”. She advised we join a news agency, if possible, so as to acclimatise ourselves with the fast pace of a news room as well as learning how to write for a variety of publications. Duly noted.
“Make a good brew!” she also said. Fair enough.
But “forget your morals” didn’t sit right with me.
She did, she said, and that’s how she got the scoop on when Billie Piper’s forthcoming nuptials were to be. She blagged her way into Piper’s grandmother’s house and didn’t leave until she had the all important date for her scoop.
For me, forgetting your morals to get a story about Billie Piper is incomparable to forgetting your morals while on the frontline of a war, as Brabazon perhaps had to.
I was gobsmacked that this advice was being happily pushed on us by the same lecturers who have taught us law and ethics, politics and interview techniques.
However, one thing that I and all other journalists know is that it is vital to present as many sides of a story as you can. Balance is key. What use would it be to my education if I was presented only with radio reporters, only with tv journalists, only with magazine writers as “role models”.
I may not have benefited from what this week’s speaker had to say but those who flocked to her to ask more questions at the end obviously did, and credit to our lecturers for facilitating that.
