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What is striking about the LW's original complaint is how shaky his reasons for going into reporting are. Aside from one throwaway line about how on a "good" day, he enjoys learning about new things, many of his motivations seem rooted in pure, self-centered ego: "I feel ... a little powerful" and "I'm nauseated by the thought that my work will appear under my name," for example.
And instead of going into reporting because he's got a passion for a specific topic (as many science, technology, arts and business reporters I know did), or because he's got the bug to tell people stories (as nearly all good reporters I know do), or because he genuinely believes that a free press is vital to our lives ... it's because he wants to "experience what it means to be human." This is a profoundly selfish reason to enter a field that has the potential to affect other people; perhaps his realization of this explains why he is chary of assuming any "exposure and responsibility."
Journalism is about conveying the story to others. If you're a good reporter, you're a conduit for the story. The stories you report can affect you, yes, but at the end of the day, you're dedicated to a purpose above and beyond your own self-actualization. You're driven by curiosity, the belief that transmitting true and accurate information serves a vital need in society, and a love of story-telling. The story should always be bigger than you are.
Done right, reporting DOES carry "exposure and responsibility" -- reporting on a new piece of technology can make or break a product line or company; reporting on a new scientific development can make or break someone's reputation or the public's perception of a field; reporting on a company can affect the livelihoods of countless people. There is no good reporting that's done in a consequence-free bubble. So long as you do your job right -- be scrupulously fair about including all the facts, put those facts into the fullest context possible, do your legwork, get good sources and figure out how they're trying to work you -- that's not your problem.
Being shy shouldn't even factor into it. I'm shy. I'm also a decent reporter -- because I know the story's never about me, it's about my topic and it's for my readers. And I love what I do. I love learning something new, I love passing on that tremendous thrill of discovery to readers, and I love directing attention toward previously-unexplored facets of the world we live in. Those kicks always propel me past any awkwardness -- and they can do it for anyone else who's in the field for the joy of seeing how the world works. Not how they work -- how the world works.
