the important qualities of a journalist

Topic 6 – THE MEDIA

We can get knowledge from news, but some people think that we can’t trust the journalist. Dicuss, what do you think is the important qualities that a journalist should have? 

-         Object and trust-worthy

-         Bravery

-         Good writing skill and update knowledge

To become a journalist demands a variety of qualities. Some people think that he or she should be honest and objective to depict the truth to people while others claim that good writing skill is crucial. My essay will discuss several important qualities of being a journalist. 

First, a good journalist should be object and trust-worthy. For sake of money, there have been reporters and journalists distorting the truth, which badly affects thinking of readers and even arouses sense of prejudge against others. No sooner have a person read an article telling bad things about Jewish due to personal judgement of journalists than he might be biased against this community. Several journalists, in order to receive big briberies from politician, bend their pens, followed by the misunderstanding of readers and their loss of belief in the long term.

Second, bravery is another essential quality. If they are nervous and less willing to get into difficulties to capture pictures and real stories, readers will never have chance to know what is happening in the world. By dint of taking the photo of a little girl who ran against the bullet in Vietnam America war, people around the world got to know how painful the situation was in my country and protested against the conflict strongly. Or in earthquakes, only after seeing pictures of people dying out there and houses collapsing do people take actions and raise campaigns to help these little desperate individuals in far-away places.

Third, the possession of good writing skill and need to update knowledge are indispensable to the life of being a journalist.  Because of lack of knowledge in grammar and word choice, their articles hardly make readers understand the message they want to convey. Such inappropriate language in titles and main body of the articles disappoints and misleads readers as well. In addition, by equipping them with updated news and knowledge, journalists can provide readers the most fresh information and inspire them to discover the world. Boring and repetitive news hardly gains attention from readers who desire to know something different as everyday passed by, which results in an amazing number of readers and bigger profit of media organization.

-           Bribery (n) sự đút lót, hối lộ

-         Bend (v) bẻ cong, bóp méo = distort

-         Desperate (adj) liều lĩnh / tuyệt vọng / dữ dội / cần thiết

-         Indispensable + to/for (adj) không thể thiếu được

-         Protest + against (v): phản đối