Why having broad shoulders is a good journalism quality

Being a journalist can be tough going if you're the sort of person who is easily offended or upset by remarks made about your work or the way you do your job. 

So having broad shoulders and not letting things get under your skin is a very good quality to have or develop if you want to be a journalist.

In fact, I'd go so far to say that having reptile-tough skin is an essential personal quality to be a journalist despite it probably being the main reason why many 'outsiders' see journalism as a cold profession that attracts people as hard as nails! 

Not at all, I say. Journalists are people just like you and me. They have families, friends, feelings etc; but they also do a job that requires them to remain detached from getting involved with the rights and wrongs of a subject matter or getting too emotional.

In a nutshell, if the news is newsworthy and there is no legal reason not to report it, then it's a journalist's job to report it, no matter how sensitive or tear-jerking the story. Simple as that! 

Now that might sound fairly obvious and perhaps a wee bit callous but trust me, it’s often not an easy task either especially when you're chasing a story or plan to publish something that a person(s) would prefer you didn't such as crime, police incident or a story involving unscrupulous behaviour or practises.

During my time as a journalist I'm sure my face has been pinned to the centre of more than one dartboard considering the amount of times I heard mumbles of "scum" or worse on leaving a courthouse.

I can’t count the amount of times defendants and their entourage hanging around outside court buildings have threatened to ‘get their lawyers onto me if I write about them in the newspaper’ – I smiled of course, knowing that their lawyer's would advise: ‘dude, she's allowed to be there and report it!”

Likewise though, I've had phone calls begging me not to report a particular story about a person, family member or friend and I'm certainly not the only journalist to have received death threats that thankfully amounted to nothing other than hot air.

And I'll never forget the day I vowed never to set foot on a certain social housing estate alone again after knives were flashed when I was leaving a house following an interview with the mother of a heroin addict son about a rise in youth drug crime on the estate.

Now I'm not putting all my experiences out there to scare you or put you off wanting to be a journalist, nor do I want you to think that threats and verbal abuse are part of the daily routine as for most journalists this really isn't the case.

But there may be times when you are caught up in a vicious 'circus' simply because you are doing your job and just like police officers, traffic wardens and other people in professions we 'love to hate', journalists need to have a thick skin and a kind of 'yeah, yeah' and move on approach.

Of course, always report any threats to your editor and/or news editor who may advise you to contact the police to report the incident or take some sort of legal action against your abuser.

No editor should willing want to put you in harms way but they can’t stop people verbally lashing out at you when things don’t go their way. It’s part and parcel of the job and something you have to rise above or report to the authorities, rather than try to retaliate.

Having the ability to let things wash over you without getting emotionally affected will also help keep your stress levels down too as the rest of your day won't be ruined by the incident or stop you from getting your job done properly.

It's the same approach you have to have when you're covering a death, particularly that of a child or brutal murder perhaps.

Doors might get slammed in your face if you go asking questions about the victim hours after he or she has been found dead or you might discover details of the crime that are too horrific for you to comprehend without getting upset and emotional.

But it’s really important that you remain detached and have a tough skin in order for you to do your job effectively and not take home emotional baggage either as this would be unfair on you, your family and friends.

So you can see why having or learning to have broad shoulders and the ability just to brush things off without getting too emotionally affected is a good personal quality to have if you want to be a journalist.