Journalists are people too.
“A journalist/reporter is a person who is reporting the news. Regardless if they work on their own (“freelance”) or for a newspaper, magazine, a radio or television programme, researching, writing, and reporting news information is their main goal.”
There you are, nervously waiting for the journalist/reporter to step on your terrain, to invade your work-space and maybe even jump into the darkest corners of your private life. Than they arrive … looking like a pack of hungry wolves, armed with all kind of terrible creepy questions, looking you straight in the eye and impenetrable in what they really think. Microphones and camera’s are being unpacked and put into position, and not only the gazing lenses of the camera(s) are aimed at … YOU … also the strict looks of the Journalist/reporter, camera-man and maybe even those of the whole freaking world are aimed directly at you!
Okay, that scenario would scare the hell out of me too 🙂 But we know that you are feeling a bit uncomfortable and maybe thinking; “Oh my god, they are going to penetrate my soul and rip it apart before I am truly death!” As a journalist I have to say, Yes I am penetrating your soul because I need to understand who I am talking to but no, I am not going to rip you apart 😉
Unfortunately, there are journalists/reporters who use a form of aggression and can be immense irritating in their behavior but, speaking about myself, when I am walking in the back I am not able to hear what you have to say and that is the reason why I push myself to the front … it’s not journalistic aggression, it’s because my recording equipment can not bridge the sound of your voice over a hundred meters.
This is our (sometimes dangerous) job,
…we are just people who are asking questions about your claims, work, experiences … and yes, they are direct questions with a psychological touch. If we do not do this, we would never get an answer to work with meaning that the (your) story is not going to be published in a manner as it is supposed to be.
Therefore, the next time a journalist/reporter is standing in-front of you, know that he or she does not have the intention to rip you to pieces or to find that one particular comment in order to criticize you … they are just looking for the most interesting stories they can get their hands on.