Ten reasons why you do want to become a journalist - and don’t
I got these from Mbak Evi (Evi Mariani), one of my boss bosses (thanks, Martin) when I was a reporter for city desk. She said she was tidying up her work desk when she found these documents she got years ago–when she was a new reporter at The Jakarta Post.
“Can I have them published on my blog?” I asked.
“Sure. I’m not sure who the author is, but I got these from Mas Endy (Endy Bayuni).”
So, here goes. Oh one thing: Mas Endy is the Chief Editor of The Post.
“Ten reasons why you do want to become a journalist”
- You get a front seat row to historical events.
- You get a front row seat, literally, to many shows and sporting events.
- You get to meet a lot of interesting people.
- You get to travel to many interesting places.
- You know things before most other people do, and you get to tell the stories to these people.
- Increasingly (but slowly) it’s becoming a respectable profession, thanks to Reformasi and commercial TV.
- You get to use every knowledge you learned and possess.
- You get invited a lot.
- Many people want to befriend you because they think you’re powerful (although you’re not really).
- It’s fun, adventurous and, sometimes, even dangerous. It’s a challenging job.
“Ten reasons why you don’t want to become a journalist”
- You work long hours.
- You work for pittance.
- It’s a very stressful work.
- Society doesn’t appreciate your profession. You’re as bad as lawyers and politicians but at least they are well paid. They think you’re just as corrupt.
- Your girlfriend/boyfriend or wife/husband thinks you’re weird.
- Your parents/in-laws (or would be in-laws) are ashamed of you, to the point of wanting to disown you.
- Your neighbours think of you more as a gossip monger.
- Your friends feel sorry for you at first, and then forget about you.
- You have no social life.
- You have no life.
However, Mbak Evi said, not all of them are true. What do you think? Are they? :P
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