In various posts on the web, this blog, and in the many journalism and technology conferences all over the world, journalists are told they need technical skills to be able ford the new world of online journalism. While new tools and technology do enhance the potential for storytelling and reporting, there are some non-technical skills that both digital and traditional journalists should have.
Math
There is a long-standing, unspoken rule that journalists are not known for their stellar math skills, something some journalists are proud of. (At my undergrad alma mater, journalism students were purposely required to take as few math and science classes as possible because they historically tested low in these areas.) This aversion to math is a shame, really, considering how much math is necessary to produce a news story. Many news stories are themselves based on numbers and statistics. A lot of web, database, and interactive design is based on math, including ratios, formulas and basic addition.
If your math skills aren’t up to par and you can’t add more than two numbers without reaching for a calculator, consider revisiting the math skills you learned in grade school which will in turn help you churn out quick addition and multiplication problems on the fly. Trying playing math games like those available online or video games like Brain Age for the Nintendo DS. Also check out the book “Numbers in the Newsroom,” a valuable resource for any journalist.
Design
Design is often overlooked as a necessary part of an online journalist’s skill set and yet design permeates almost every facet of online journalism. From online page design to multimedia design to various art elements like graphics and photos, journalists should be familiar with not just good design, but how readers and viewers interact with it. Most news websites are poorly structured with a hodgepodge of links haphazardly arranged in columns which ultimately lessens the potential traffic the site can receive. The reason many journalism projects built in Flash suffer is because a lack of knowledge about the tenets of design.
An eye for design is, in the author’s opinion, not something you can teach. Unlike computer programming which is based on repeating established steps and processes, design is based on instinct. Journalists, especially those involved in the visual aspects of the industry, have the seed of design deep within and just need cultivation and practice to bring it out. Journalists should be educated in what makes a good website, infographic, or multimedia project and study what makes well-designed projects great. Digital journalists should also be trained in user experience design because even if an online project looks good, it is all for naught if the audience doesn’t know how to interact with it.
Interpersonal skills
A big part of being a journalist is talking with other people and gaining their trust which in turn gets you insight and information. The ability to communicate with a perfect stranger is not something they teach in J-School or on the job, but any good journalist will tell you they need to be a bit of a psychologist to effectively do their jobs. Some journalists revel in their grizzled exteriors or penchant for sarcasm (because after all what is a journalist without sarcasm?) but it is incredibly necessary to be a people-person to have a career in the industry and to elicit the information and news tips that can make or break a story.
Also on 10,000 Words:
• Journalism Grads: 30 Things You Should Do This Summer
• Why journalists should learn to code (and why some shouldn’t bother)
• Top 10 Reasons Not to Learn Multimedia Skills
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I agree! Especially with the math part. As a community paper, we do stories about the budget every year. And it’s funny how many of my coworkers will come to me with math questions. Journalists shouldn’t be afraid of numbers as much as they are.
May 25, 2010, 1:44 pm
Mark, I totally agree! Design is an area I am trying to learn more about. I try and get as much inspiration from ffffound, ISO50 and Kitsune Noir in my Google Reader, and, as a visual journalist, I have quite a good eye for these things anyway…but I still feel I need to learn more about the basics of how design works.
May 26, 2010, 1:32 am
I agree…
sadly, been a math atheist for long.
May 26, 2010, 2:49 am
Vanya’s Blog » Blog Archive » Favourites May 26, 2010 Pingback Says:
[...] 3 Underrated but essential skills for journalists from the blog 10,000 Words [...]
May 26, 2010, 3:37 am
I ADORE this post. Too many of my students think it’s all about skills. The intangibles are so important, as is an appreciation for design.
May 26, 2010, 8:05 am
I’m glad I’m a converted math major to journalism major!
May 26, 2010, 10:44 am
I am absolutely thrilled that you included #3, Interpersonal Skills. This is the first modern-day journalist primer that I’ve seen that includes that. It is the single most important trait for a successful newsman or newswoman. Talking to the secretary, knowing about the family members of sources, making them feel that you care about them (because you do), and most important, training them that when something happens, they MUST contact you and that they can trust you — that’s what journalism always was and always should be.
I’ll never forget in the early 1980′s when I asked one of my journalistic heroes, Neil Amdur, sportswriter for the New York Times, what the modern journalist will be. He replied that they will have to be good with a computer because people skills won’t matter. He was forward-thinking. He was also totally wrong. – Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
May 26, 2010, 5:32 pm
Another group that should be required to be tested in not only math but, more specifically, statistics, is all candidates for federal office ( could also extend to states that want it).
Two other tests for public-office candidates and maybe for journalists should be those that al candidates for naturalization as U.S. citizens must pass: American history and civics. (I’d throw in world history as well). Then we wouldn’t have congressmen who have only the vaguest idea about Eisenhower and think it was Reagan who led America through World War II; who have no idea of what the constitution (as amended) says, let alone the declaration of independence, and on and on.
How do I get this idea widely known and discussed?
May 27, 2010, 11:55 am
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May 27, 2010, 1:21 pm
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May 27, 2010, 8:35 pm
WordCount recommended reading for May 28, 2010 | WordCount Pingback Says:
[...] Three essential but underrated skills for journalists – I’ll save you the suspense and just tell you what 10,000 Words blogger Mark Luckie thinks are indispensable skills: – math, design and interpersonal communications. But read it anyway, he makes some good points. [...]
May 28, 2010, 6:02 am
I’ve been a freelance periodical writer and book author for more than 15 years and have done well without any math skills.
Have always been good with words and lousy with numbers. I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
May 30, 2010, 2:16 pm
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May 31, 2010, 10:48 am
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May 31, 2010, 1:12 pm
I agree strongly with all of these — especially the math part.
And, I would add, it’s not just arithmetic and algebra. Journalists should have a solid working knowledge of statistics, standard fiscal practices, and the scientific method.
We constantly encounter people who want to pull the wool over our eyes by distorting statistics or otherwise manipulating numbers in strange ways. If we don’t have good math skills ourselves, we’ll be duped, and most of our readers will be too.
June 13, 2010, 1:11 pm
My Urban Report » Blog watch: 10,000 Words Pingback Says:
[...] 3 Underrated but essential skills for journalists: I’ve shared my thoughts on the skills that any surviving journalist must have. Mark adds his thoughts and you may be surprised. [...]
June 16, 2010, 8:44 am
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June 24, 2010, 5:51 pm
You never know what you will find by just going inside your own name on a web site. So it was when I discovered Dave Lieber’s May 26 comments attributed to me regarding the future of journalism.
He recounts a conversation he said he had with me in which I told him in the 1980s that you would have to be good with a computer in journalism’s future “because people skills won’t matter.”
Whoa! I hope he has that on tape because I would have had to say a lot more than that. Since Mr. Lieber now is “The Watchdog” for the Fort Worth Star Telegram, he must know that I spent countless years as a sports reporter for the New York Times and 12 years as sports editor of the same paper. Above all, in looking for and ultimately hiring quality journalists I valued people skills, journalistic integrity and the ability to rise to the level of an event as much as any single quality in a candidate.
That’s one of the reasons I hired Buster Olney, Chris Broussard, Mike Wise, Selena Roberts, Harvey Araton, Damon Hack, Liz Robbins, Mike Freeman, Claire Smith, Tyler Kepner, Bill Pennington, Jere Longman, Filip Bondy, and Rich Sandomir among others as sports reporters at The Times.
It’s also why I hired Terry Taylor, Leann Wilcox, Mindy Matthews, Mike Hale, Sandy Bailey, Ken Plutnicki and Jill Agostino among others as editors.
For all of their infinite speed and deliverance, computers can’t replace the human instincts, tireless courage and total commitment that constitute great journalism.
Neil Amdur
July 27, 2010
July 27, 2010, 5:27 pm