What makes a great journalist?

I have been thinking a lot about what makes a good journalist. We are deep into the process of selecting five trainees for The Age. It’s important and time-consuming. The applicants have done current affairs quizzes, a writing assignment to re-draft a press release in which the most important point is buried, and another where they interviewed someone and wrote it up.

We have done initial interviews, and are about to start our shortlist interviews, which means leaving out talented people, and that’s been hard.

What are we looking for at The Age? Hiring the next generation of journalists is a responsibility. We need to think through what our principles are, and it’s far from straightforward. I have been around long enough to know that some people can dazzle at interviews, but lack the skills or temperament to be great journalists. Some people are quieter and may be nervous being grilled by senior editors, but they may have the potential to be marvellous journalists.

I remember a brilliant young man a few years ago who topped his law course at university, yet as a trainee, he was reluctant to do the daily grind of journalism, making uncomfortable phone calls and never giving up until he got the information he needed. He would excel as a lawyer, but journalism didn’t suit him.

Journalists can be swaggering extroverts, but I have never forgotten the words of Joan Didion in her 1968 book of essays, Slouching Towards Bethlehem. “My only advantage as a reporter is that I am so physically small, so temperamentally unobtrusive, and so neurotically inarticulate that people tend to forget that my presence runs counter to their best interests. And it always does.” As always, Didion is brutal.

We need all sorts, the super aggressive people who need to be tempered with “hang on a minute” editors. The byline chasers who need to learn the importance of fairness. We appreciate passionate journalists who come to realise that their journalism is more trustworthy if it isn’t biased.

We don’t expect our trainees to be fully formed. They will receive training and mentoring, and experience remains the best teacher. Gathering facts, meeting and interviewing people, getting used to being yelled at, learning from mistakes, understanding the meaning of context, finding a second and third source, all take time and experience.

There is value in journalists who want to specialise, to gather expertise so that they know the background to complex stories. Now, of course, being a good writer is rarely enough. We are looking for brilliant video and audio journalists, too, and social media has its own language and trends.

We are also looking to increase diversity in our newsroom. When I joined The Age many years ago from Queensland, I was intimidated by all the young men in black skivvies who had completed Arts degrees at Melbourne University after private school educations. There is nothing wrong with that, but my sense was that the newsroom was full of them.

Diversity matters because it improves our journalism. If most people in a newsroom have similar life experiences, we miss out on so many interesting and vital stories. Women pouring into the profession a generation or so ago made a difference to the range of stories deemed newsworthy. Women have changed journalism for the better.

Margaret Easterbrook is the opinion editor at The Age, and she is in a wheelchair. Her disability does not define her, but talking to her about her experiences getting around the city opened my eyes. We are keeping an eye on applicants who have not had the advantages of middle-class backgrounds. Journalist Rick Morton’s childhood poverty has enriched his journalism because he has insights into stories that someone without that experience would struggle to understand.

We are keen on interviewing people who grew up in the country because they may see public debates through a different lens. Victoria is a multicultural state, and our newsroom fails to reflect that. We need more journalists with language skills and with the lived experience of migrant backgrounds.

If everyone in a room has a similar political perspective on every issue, it flattens our journalism. We need a mix. We need debate and arguments because different ideas improve our journalism, point us to stories that otherwise we would not think about. Trainees give us a hit of youth, bringing in new ideas because their eyes are fresh.

All this is informing our thinking, and it’s too much, really. We are hiring just five people! So, what comes first? Curiosity is vital. Open-mindedness. A willingness to learn. Tenacity. An analytical brain that doesn’t accept things at face value. Will a trainee be committed to reporting fairly the views of people they disagree with? Objectivity is a myth, but fairness is non-negotiable.

Resilience matters, too. Journalism is tough and competitive, and I would like our new trainees to have a sense of themselves beyond their job. Anxiety and judging worth or failure by their last story can crush talented journalists.

I have admired journalist David Marr for decades. He’s brave, certainly opinionated, writes beautifully and thinks independently. I hope I am not misquoting him, but I remember him saying something like, “just because you’re a journalist, doesn’t mean you have to leave your brain at the door”. It made me laugh at the time, but it’s true.

Gay Alcorn sends an exclusive newsletter to subscribers each week. Sign up to receive her Note from the Editor.

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