What Is A Journalist Anyway?

The media organization where I have recently started worked is KQED, the largest public broadcasting company in Northern California.

I've been walking the ten minutes from my apartment to the station a day or two each week to write blog posts for the company's News Fix blog.

Here are links to some of those posts, both signed and unsigned:

05/24/2013 USGS   http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/05/24/98087/usgs-seeks-earthquake-scanners#more-98087

05/24/2013  Zumper   http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/05/24/98037/san-francisco-rent-prices-zumper

05/20/2013 Tumblr   http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/05/20/tumblr-joins-flickr-inside-yahoos/

05/20/2013 Bay Bridge   http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/05/20/97597/

05/17/2013 Golden State Warriors   http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/05/17/warri/

05/17/2013 Google Glass   http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/05/17/97460/

05/17/2013 Unemployment   http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/05/17/97521/

05/13/2013 SF Giants   http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/05/13/96973/

05/10/2013 Google Book Scan   http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/google-book-scanning-fair-use

05/10/2013 Bratton Report   http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/05/10/bratton-oakland/

05/08/2013 Income Disparity & Public Transit    http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/

05/07/2013 3-D guns   http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/05/07/96407/

I've provided the links here not because I think any of you would necessarily want to read these posts but because they illustrate some of the diversity of topics a journalist deals with on a daily basis.

People often ask me what it is like being a journalist. They have romantic ideas, based on TV, novels, or movies. But trust me, romance is rarely to be found in journalism. Mostly it is grinding work, pressurized as you attempt to document the news and avoid making mistakes.

You strive to be fair and balanced. Those who think journalists pursue their own political agendas are hopelessly naive. We do not have and have never had that kind of luxury.

The above list does, however, reveal some of my interest areas, since I could have written about other topics rather than the ones I chose to publish. There is a heavy dose of tech and sports running through those posts.

But my many other interests -- books, music, the environment, politics, parenting, global issues, relationships, family and on and on -- haven't yet found expression in this new venue. If I am able to continue writing there in the future, perhaps they will...

Meanwhile, I have four more upcoming days scheduled to commute to this job.

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