The Essential Reporting Skills: Preparation, Curiosity and Confidence

出自香港新聞網 - 樹仁新傳系學生實習習作

The Essential Reporting Skills: Preparation, Curiosity and Confidence 055113 黃盈慧 WONG, YING WAI 2007年12月19日 (三) 11:41 (UTC)

Journalists always played a vital role in news decision making as being gate keeper. There were many important elements to be an outstanding journalist. To a past journalist, preparation, curiosity and confidence were the essential reporting skills of a reporter.

Preparation was the basic work to a conscientious worker. For journalists, no wonder it meant business to have preparation before the interview. Jiang Su Wai, the chairperson of the C S Culture Foundation, understood it is time consuming to get well prepared for the interviewee’s background and weaknesses. But she insisted that it was worth to do so. She said preparation functioned as a bridge to link up with the interviewee, helping to focus on purposes and got a useful result in good impression making and identification earning.

“Reporters should burn with curiosity towards everything. It resulted in training a good observation to dig out news and seek for questions, also the article would be reported in a better and in depth way.” Jiang emphasized reporters needed to behave friendly to gain trust and keep closer relationship with the interviewee if it was exclusive news. She added, it was a must for reporters to stick to their promise and protect the source so that the interviewee could keep on providing exclusive information.

She thought journalist should be confidence also to catch the significant moment and ask proper question. “It gave a great help in reporting,” she noted.

Jiang was a well-known Taiwanese reporter who was the first one to report in China at 1984. She was experienced and world famous also.