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Early in my suburban paper reporting career, I don't recall being afraid to ask intrusive questions. But the longer I stayed in the field, the more I disliked invading privacy, and I probably did hold back a little bit.
But mostly I didn't, and at my best I think I used the intrusive questions to get at motivation, to make both sides in a controversy more or less comprehensible to a reader. And I hated to be lied to.
I went to the paper at 26, just out of college->army->college, and stayed at the same paper for 30 out of the next 34 years, with time out for Peace Corps and municipal PR. Mostly reported, did some copy editing and spent the last 15 years doubling as computer systems person.
Nearing 70, in retirement and now halfway across the state, I write columns for the paper, and freelance for a small town daily.
Tonight, I stopped by a home in a rural village to ask a guy about his side in a controversy, not quite wanting to make the stop and ask some unpleasant questions. I was pleasant and understanding and he talked easily. I don't know what kind of a story I've got, and that raises my deeper concern: delivering a good story.
Not too many years before I retired, I floored my city editor, a younger guy, when I told him that every time I went out on a breaking story, I asked myself, "How the hell will I pull this one off?" With my age and experience, I didn't know? By the time I retired, I mostly got over that.
It was, is, the best job I can imagine. I'll tell anybody that it was one job that rewarded me for everything I've ever learned, from math and science to ham radio, sociology and history, home ownership and personal relationships and living in a developing country. Everything I ever learned also made me a pretty good copy editor.
Cary's advice is sound. But I'd guess that even in the entertainment field, a shy reporter may tire of the spin and hype, get pissed off and begin to challenge the spin and hype and his own shyness.
