How to be a good Journalist -STEP 2. Communication Skills

Good communication skills help us to express our ideas clearly, learn from other people, and resolve the conflicts. For the journalists especially for the reporter, communication skill is one of the most important and must have skills. A major part of Journalists skills is nothing but communication skills. The Journalist gathers information or listens to the sound bites, and changes that to more digestible format so the audience can understand the format much better and

 easier.

Reporter has to communicate to research people, interviewers, editors, cameramen, producer and many more people.  But more importantly, sources.  After I carefully watched professional reporter’s reporting and did several news packages for my broadcasting class, I learned that communicating with the source is very important.

Here are some communication skills that I learn from my experience.

1.     Listen, Listen, and Listen: Listen is important for the interview. This means being engaged ad alert. While you are interviewing your sources, pay attention to their answer. One time I was interviewing one of the doctors about skin damages. I asked the questions what skin caner looks like. She showed me the photos of damage skills and explains to me for the 2 minutes, but because I was so pay attention to my next questions, I couldn’t hear her answer. I ask her same questions at the end, and when she said “ I talked about it already”, I realized that I n

eed to listen more carefully, it is also important to pay attention to the people around you and details.

2.     Ask for Feedback: This involves asking confirmation. If there is some information that you don’t understand or confuse, make sure you ask for the confirmation. When I did Ammonia water story, I had a hard time to understand the theory of the water system. After I came back the editing room, I had to call him again for the confirmation. It is better to ask for the confirmation right after the interview.

3.     Friendly, Yet Professional: If the reporter is personabl

e and friendly, there is more opportunity to engage is small talk. Look at the items around his or her office as they may offer a clue as to their interests. Finding a commonality can bring people together and will bring better interview.

4.     Non-verbal Communication: Be aware of the message body language sends. Unnecessary movements such as bouncing legs or playing with hair and clothes will give your sources the impressions of nervous.

5.     Keep up the relations: To survive in Professional Journalism World is to have many sources for your future story. Sources and relationship with your good interviewers might be needed again in the future.