What qualities make a good journalist?

You might have been told you would make a good reporter or always had a burning ambition to be a journalist, but do you really have what it takes to do the job? That is the question!

Being a good reporter takes more than just having fantastic exam results or knowing how to string a few words together to make a sentence. In fact, to do the job properly takes much more than either of those two qualities put together.

You can learn to write, how to spell and do grammar. You can be taught how to interview people, how to write news and a host of other useful journalism skills.

But to be a great journalist takes passion. A real passion for news and a real want to dig through dirt, come up with something meaty and tell everyone just what you've found.

Journalists are the world’s curiosity seekers - "nosey beggars" as my late dad used to say - they love the seek-and-find of storytelling and chase the tale with fire in their bellies.

Their ears prick up at the first sniff of a bit of newsy gossip and they're not afraid to go fishing until they get a bite!

Toss a bit of juicy news in the direction of a good reporter and he or she will be like a greyhound on a racetrack. Loving the chase with a vengeance. And when they finally get the story they’ll be like the cat that got the cream!

Now this doesn't mean that you have to be loud and brash to be a reporter or the nosiest person on the planet. But journalists generally aren't shy or reserved to the point that they'd be afraid to ask questions to find out what's going on.

When you're a journalist you can't be afraid to ask questions and you should relish the idea of probing news to see if you can open new doors and dig out a new twist to a tale.

Good journalists have great analytical minds. They're able to quickly weigh up all the 'ifs and buts' of a story that comes their way and have the good news sense to know when everything if not quite what it seems.

And rarely will they give up if they sense that there is more than meets the eye!

On saying that however, good journalists are confident and intelligent enough to know when to call it a day and draw a line on a story. Some things are just what they seem and as a journalist you often have to go with your gut instincts. 

Now if this sounds like you then you're likely to have the basic raw abilities to make a good journalist and trust me, qualities like these are not possessed by everyone.

Of course, there are a number of essential skills and abilities required too and if you read my posts under the ‘Journalism skills’ label you'll find lots of good advice and tips about the personal and practical skills required to be a journalist.

But if you believe you have an almost ‘instinctive’ nose and passion for news and the inner drive to chase it and grab it with both hands, then journalism just might be the right career choice for you.