Advantage of being a journalist is being first to know – sometimes!

A big advantage of being a journalist is that you often get to know what’s going to happen before everyone else does.

Being a reporter puts you in a very privileged position when it comes to knowing details about certain events; what’s planned, when/where and how it will take place etc.

For instance, the intricate details of a planned royal visit or certain arrangements of a high profile court case that is expected to attract a lot of media interest.

But reporters don’t get prior warning of these sorts of things because a public official or PR representative wants to be kind or generous. It’s because they want to avoid a disorganised media scrum landing on their doorstep.

Think of a high profile court hearing that you may have seen on TV or read about in a newspaper. Imagine how the scene would have looked if the world’s media had descended without court officials having some sort of organised plan in place for the press gang?

Likewise, imagine the press scramble if the US President was in town to open a new hospital unit and journalists were only told about it minutes before his arrival?

Not only is there a risk that the event would go unreported or not get widespread coverage, but it's likely to create a nightmare for hospital staff and patients that could interrupt the normal daily running of the hospital.

So you can see why public officials opt to inform journalists about certain major events that are expected to attract a lot of press interest. It helps to keep order and allow high profile public events to proceed as smoothly as possible.

Of course, in the case of political or public figures it also increases the chances for widespread coverage of key events as well as ‘vote-winning’ good deeds such as the hospital scenario above.

A police drugs raid in the local neighbourhood (eg) is something else that journalists may get to know about before the rest of the community.

Planned police operations generally take months to organise and cost a lot of money to conduct given the amount of police officers that usually take part.

Now don’t forget, like public service figures, the police are funded by taxpayers’ cash so it’s important that it’s demonstrated how they are spending ‘our’ money wisely to effectively tackle serious crime or conflicts.

And that’s where journalists hungry for news can come in very handy!

In the quest to get maximum coverage for a significant operation costing loads of money, the police are sometimes keen for journalists to join them to report the facts as they happen.

This is quite a common approach used by UK police forces and sometimes the armed forces too, particularly the army where it’s perhaps more practical to organise.

Having a journalist on tow usually ensures that the news event will get bigger and more favourable coverage.

And what better way to convince people that you are doing a grand old job and spending public money wisely than to have a journalist report it and say so?

But it’s a win-win situation though as you get a guaranteed news story that might have the potential for exclusive news and most certainly will have follow-up stories for future news coverage. The eventual recorded results, court hearings or any police arrests perhaps. 

So you can see why journalists are often the first to know about public events or planned events by public service bodies that are funded by taxpayers’ money.

If you’re a journalist, being told about something before it happens also gives you a distinct advantage as it allows you time to:

• draw up a rough plan of how you will tackle the news coverage
• the sort of questions you will ask
• who you might want to interview
• how you might angle your story
• the sort of pictures you may require
• organise any press passes that are required

Your editor or news editor will usually give you advice on this, especially if you are new to being a reporter, but always try to offer your own ideas too as showing initiative early on is a good quality to demonstrate if you want a successful career as a journalist.