the.com/journalist
professionally allergic to comfortable silences and official statements that end the conversation
means A person who gathers, writes, or reports news for newspapers, magazines, broadcast, or online outlets.
from From French 'journaliste,' built on 'journal' — a daily record or diary — which traces back through Old French to Latin 'diurnalis,' meaning 'of the day' (from 'dies,' day). The same 'day' root gives us 'journey,' which once meant a single day's travel. So a journalist is, quite literally, a chronicler of the day — though the word only narrowed to mean a professional news-gatherer in the 18th century, as the daily press came of age.
- original role
- early ones often wrote anonymously to avoid imprisonment
- deadly trade
- dozens killed worldwide every year for reporting
- shield laws
- some refuse jail rather than reveal sources
- word origin
- from French for daily, like journal
- watergate proof
- two reporters helped topple a US president
bob woodward — washington post reporter who broke the watergate scandal in 1974
marie colvin — war correspondent killed covering the syrian civil war in homs in 2012
seymour hersh — pulitzer prize winner who exposed the my lai massacre in vietnam in 1969
ida b wells — african american journalist who documented lynching in the american south from 1892-1920s