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...is a difficult, acquired skill. I have found it useful to see it like i'm adopting a slightly different persona; pulling on an attitude where i'm a little more aggressive, a little more assertive and al ittle more probing than I normally would be in everyday life.
I learned this from a former colleague and longtime friend, Megan O'Matz -- a pulitzer finalist this past year at the Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel. When we worked together in Pittsburgh, she was the nicest, most mild mannered girl you'd ever want to meet. We have had a running joke for 15 years about how she was Mary Tyler Moore in another life.
But when she's chasing a story, all that disappears. She becomes much more assertive, much more skeptical and much more tireless in her work. If she was that kind of person all the time, I doubt our friendship would have lasted long. But i learned from Megan the value of amping up the qualities which help in reporting tough stories when I needed them. And putting them aside when I was done with the story.
I don't know if this is something you can do. But since you love the other parts of journalism so much, it's a strategy you might consider.
Eric Deggans
TV/Media Critic
St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times
(727) 893-8521
http://www.sptimes.com/columns/deggans.shtml http://blogs.tampabay.com/media/
http://www.myspace.com/ericdeggans
