The journalist's secret

Since I'm still new to this world of full-time journalism, people back in Ontario occasionally check in with the Thompson Citizen to see what I'm writing about. In my parents' case, they read it every week. Which means they then want to talk to me about all the stuff I wrote for that paper.

Which is all well and good except for one little thing: I've forgotten most of it.

It's journalism's dirty little secret, and it's even more true here than it was at The Sputnik. By the time the newspaper comes out, the last thing any reporter wants to do is read it.

An example for you. Yesterday was Monday. By yesterday, I was already writing things and saving them with an August 4 publication date. I'll get them back from my editor mid-week, probably look at them a couple more times by the end of the week as I'm seeing how well the paper is filling up, and then read every single word again Tuesday morning when I'm proofreading.

So by the time the paper is dropped into my lap Wednesday morning, I've already seen the layouts of the pages, read every single article (multiple times if it's mine), and really have nothing left to be surprised at. My mind's already moved on to the next week, and when someone asks me about something in that day's paper, it feels like I'm reaching back into the distant past.

It was the same thing with The Sputnik - I knew what everybody was writing, I'd already read most of it, so I couldn't devour the paper the way I did before I started writing for it.

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While I'm revealing journalistic secrets, I might as well include a hat-tip to people who do so in a much better and much funnier fashion.

Stuff Journalists Like was first brought to my attention a few months ago, then I promptly forgot about it until my editor e-mailed me a link this morning. It is exactly what you'd expect - explanations of why journalists behave like the snobby, disheveled bastards we are.

Overheard in the Newsroom is journalism's answer to PostSecret, Texts from Last Night, and so forth.

Lastly, the new Google Image Search is striking, but I think ultimately awesome.

--Ryan