Journalist
A journalist is a person who writes short articles for publication in a newspaper or a magazine.
Origin and scope of the term
In the early 19th century, the term journalist once meant simply someone who wrote for journals, such as Charles Dickens in his early career, but has come to mean a writer for newsapapers and magazines as well. The term journalist is interchangeable with reporter.
Many journalists write for print periodicals, but some also write books or publish on the Internet. Broadcast journalists appear on radio or television.
Regardless of medium, the term journalist now carries a connotation or expectation of professionalism in reporting, with consideration for truth and ethics. This expectation is not always met, as journalists may publicly or privately take sides, but this is not taken lightly when revealed.
19th century journalists
- William Cowper Brann (1855-1898) - colorful editor of the Iconcolast in Waco, Texas.
- Nellie Bly
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge - political essays, poetry, and reportage
- Charles Dickens (1812-1870) - started as a shorthand writer logging debates in the courts and Houses of Parliament before becoming a Parliamentary journalist
- Pierce Egan (1772-1849) - early sportswriter and reporter on popular culture
- Jacob Riis (1849-1914) - journalist and slum reformer
20th century print journalists
- Rhett Baker (1950-2003) - Buffalo Housing committee recording of hearing of Daniel Patrick Moynihan 1999 / Buffalo, N.Y.
- Ben Bradlee, editor of the Washington Post at the time of the Watergate scandal
- Winston Churchill (1874-1965) war correspondent in the Boer War, captured by the Boers
- Claud Cockburn (1904-1981)
- David Halberstam
- Walter Lippmann (1889-1974)
- Jonathan Meades
- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) - essayist, critic, and editor of the Baltimore Sun.
- George Orwell (1903-1950) - reported on poverty, misery, and the Spanish Civil War
- James (Scotty) Reston
- George Seldes (1890-1995) - American journalist, editor and publisher of In Fact.
- Robert Woodward and Carl Bernstein - uncovered the Watergate scandal.
- Thomas Jackson
- Walter Winchell
- I.F. Stone (1907-1989), investigative journalist, publisher of I.F. Stone's Weekly
20th century broadcast journalists
- Edward R. Murrow, CBS News radio correspondent in London Blitz, maker of TV documentaries, noted interviewer
- Walter Cronkite, former United Press correspondent, TV anchor for CBS News in the 50s, 60s
- David Brinkley, television anchor and interview show host on the American networks ABC and NBC
- Dan Rather, succeeded Cronkite as managing editor and primary anchor of the CBS Evening News
- Sorious Samura, CNN TV documentary maker from Sierra Leone
Internet journalists
- Matt Drudge - Actively involved in revelations of the scandals of the Clinton administration.
Contemporary journalists
There are numerous examples of journalists turned novelists, both in the past and in the present, amongst them
- Amanda Craig, who writes satirical novels about English society
- David Gates, who wrote about books and music for Newsweek
- Carl Hiaasen, who writes about the corruption and glitter of Miami and Miami Beach, which he also covered as a reporter.
