Tuesday, April 10, 2012

THE LOST BYLINE

When you are a brand new journalist; the world is divided into two categories – the ones with by-lines and the rest.

It is a different life, very different. The world is your oyster and you are always going for the jugular. Why?…well, because you think what you write is possible history, probable immortality, and definite fame.

It will be some time before the novice journo learns that the flashing, glowing by-line under the headline is often missed by most readers (who are more interested in the celebrity than the chronicler).  It will be after some uneventful pint-sized by-lines later that the journo will realise his/her insignificance in the scheme of print.

However big you get, you are still smaller than your subject. Unless, of course, you become the subject – a revered columnist or a celebrated editor – popping on TV panels and posing in print. But for the vast majority of pen-pushers (or rather, keyboard bangers) it is just a profession that pays the bills.

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