Journalists are reported to be people who lead exciting lives, or so it seems. I have been one for almost three decades. The answer is therefor yes and no.
Yes, there have been times when it was exciting because interesting information or news comes almost non-stop for days in our direction. Those are the times when events that shook the world are at our finger-tips.
No, there were lapses which stretches for years when the profession was just another job. Lots of boring periods when nothing happens except the part when you don't get the yearly increments you think you deserve.
A seasoned journalist told me once: "Look, there are many times when nothing great ever happens and there are times when they do happen. So when good times take place, we savour every second of it!"
Journalism is the stuff that Hollywood scripts are made of. Ordinary people have a tendency to think that since we are such nosey people, we must be the recipients of great nuggets of gossip.
Only one thing: we don't indulge in gossip. Ours is the profession that thrives on facts. Facts are what made the newspapers and truth is what put us in the black, financially.
No newspaper or magazine in its right mind wants to be caught disseminating untruths. If a publishing firm is caught printing lies, it is done for. People want facts, no matter how gory or painful they are.
Journalists are just people who make the news items interesting or exciting. There's nothing special about good stories. Good stories are simply reports well written with all the facts and a bit of good story-telling thrown in.
Newspapers make sure they are above board all the time. Media moguls dislike greatly to be told by shareholders or the people that they are clearly talking nonsense.
Lies do not lead journalists down the road to fame and fortune. In fact, lies can land a journalist in trouble faster than he can spit on to the floor.
But as in any profession, the art of writing can be abused. For example, there were some journalists in the past who created stories straight out of their own imagination for the simple motive of winning awards.
All of us journalists, who feel we belong to a noble profession, like to believe that we can transcend the ordinary level of honestry when it comes to the crunch. We do try, that is, at least many of us.
But journalism has been known to be the source of problems for the general public in the past decades. The lure of wealth and recognition is very strong. There have been journalists in the past who partook in projects that enriched themselves. They spunned tales that made exciting reading by little substance.
Truth is strongest when it is told simply, without embellishments and without the excitement of breaking news. Ordinary citizens can judge for themselves from various information sources across the world, especially now on the Internet.
Those who wish to be journalists must first be good in the language they are going to write in. Second, they must hold some principles dear to themselves, and not compromise so that they can write another day.
Journalism is not a profession for the cowardly. Newsmen have been known to be killed and ostracised. Nobody likes the truth about their corrupted selves be made known to half the world. Thus, there were times in the past when journalists are quietly removed from the face of the earth.
We put the interest of society and the world before our own. We try as much as we can NOT to crave for the attention accorded to film stars and other great men. We seek only to let the world know that the truth can sometimes set them free.
There's no hidden treasure or road map to prosperity in journalism. It is a profession of long hours and sometimes meagre pay. It is not the kind of work, you would want to encourage your children to take up, unless they think they have a calling in that direction.
Every year, a number of journalists are killed out there in the field. Nobody really remembers them for long, especially after they perished out there in the open. We the ones who survived or too cowardly to go straight to the front line entertain the idea that journalism is pleasant as long as we have enough food on our dining tables.
Journalists are the chroniclers of man's deeds since time immemorial. We would like to believe we contribute significantly to the changing face of mankind. We all hope it is true, so that our very existence will not be in vain.
Some of us long for the day when we would end up publishing a book or several books - that would be the highlight of our careers. That privilege is not accorded to every single member of the profession.
If we are very lucky, we will end up with a tidy sum of gratuity to last us through the twilight years. Other than that, our only consolation is that we have some exciting stories to tell our grandchildren.
Publish and be damned, they say. Damn if we do, and damn if we don't, is more accurate. Brickbats are more common than bouquets. We all learn and live. It's a cliche but it is also the truth.
In the end, we write because the urge is too strong, the calling too true and all of us have to earn a living anyway.
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