When I was younger I always knew that my biddy Eric Wetlaufer was going to go into journalism, not only did he love to write but he also loved to gossip about events here in Wesson. Whether it was a couple who had fidelity issues, a company in disrepute or petty crime in the area, he would be the first to know about it. Eric and I email quite regularly and I was fortunate enough to meet up with him last week for a full and frank conversation on why he loves journalism. If you are at all interested in becoming a journalist, perhaps some of this may ring a bell with you.
The Truth
Eric says that something which I really enjoys about his job is drilling down into the truth about particular stories or accusations. Eric is an ethical writer and he will never publish something unless he knows it to be true, rather than some who write content about half truths in order to be sensational. Eric tells me that he has been offered many of these half-truth kind of stories and has always declined.
The Middle Men and Women
Eric tells me that he loves the fact that journalists are the men and women in between the story and those who are listening, which is a vitally important role in society. No matter what the cases are that he is working on, Eric is always passionate about what he does because he is constantly in search fo giving people information, correct and compelling information no less.
Writing
Something which my good friend has always loved to do is write and he says that this, above all other benefits of a career as a journalist is the very best, the fact that he gets paid to write for a living. When I asked him what he would be doing if he weren’t a journalist he reels off a number of job roles where writing is central, claiming that even if he was unemployed he would still be writing stories, his diary and fake news stories of recent events.
Respect
Throughout his career Eric has won a number of awards for his stories and he is very highly respected in the local area and beyond. He tells me that he never believed that he would ever get his stories published let alone gain respect for them and this is something which he treasures every day. There aren’t too many job positions which we respect as a society and most journalists are not afforded this virtue, Eric on the other hand is, thanks to his honest and accurate writing, and the quality of his content overall.
If you want to be a journalist then learning from someone like Eric could be a great way to improve your skills.