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• Thursday, December 7, 2006 03:39 PM

  You and many other journalists!

  I can sympathize with the LW. I've worked for years as an editor, and prefer editing to writing because I can suggest that my reporters go out and ask the hard questions :) But at the same time, I have to have a lot of hard conversations with the reporters who work for me, telling them about problems in their articles and gaps in coverage...that's not much easier. But over the years I've observed that a lot of people with social disorders (or quasi-social disorders) seem to go into journalism.

  For example, I had a reporter with Asperger's Syndrome who had a hard time relating to people and generally seemed awkward around them. (Google Asperger's Syndrome if you don't know what it is.) But on the positive side, he had an incredible thirst for knowledge, and never hesitate to ask the hard questions because it was just as difficult for him to ask the easy questions.

  I had another reporter with pronounced stutter. When you envision the "stereotypical reporter" running after a source asking hard-hitting questions, you don't envision someone who stutters. (Then again, most reporters don't fit that stereotype.) You know I discovered about her reporting technique? Many people are uncomfortable around individuals who stutter, so they do all of the talking. She'd ask one or two questions, and people would talk and talk and talk.

  Then again, I had other reporters who didn't make the most of their social anxiety. Like the reporters who were too lazy (or scared or intimidated) to spend time cultivating sources. Their stories didn't have as much depth because every time they talked to a source, it was a new relationship and they had to gain that person's trust.

  So I'd suggest you give it some time. Figure out how to use your "disability" to your advantage. And listen to the other responders who say that there are a lot of jobs out there for journalists, more than just reporting for a daily newspaper. (But I would suggest you discount the suggestion that trade journalism doesn't require you to ask hard questions. Au contraire.)

  Good luck in your quest!

  —Another journalist
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