Journalist Reveals Reporting Tips

By Dominique Scarinci


          Jan Barry gave a speech to his journalism class at St. Thomas Aquinas College the other day, which he first presented at Rutgers University after being named the North Jersey Media Group Journalist-in-Residence for Spring 2005. Barry, a published author of A Citizen’s Guide to Grassroots Campaigns and a well-known journalist for The Record in New Jersey, spoke about how to go about being a good reporter.
          Throughout his speech, Barry shares tips on being a good writer as well as some of his encounters throughout his career. Jan Barry started with a quote from his book, “A trade secret of the news media in America is that its major sources include the public- ordinary citizens who call, write, fax, e-mail, or personally deliver an interesting tip or complaint.” This quote explained to his audience how important it is to pay attention to the public when looking for stories.
          For stories that we choose to pursue, we must gather the right facts. Barry explained to the audience how important it is to use well informed sources. He stated how the best sources are people that have been or are involved in what is going on.
          It takes a real journalist to find the proper sources, he said. “Finding good unofficial sources takes patience, persistence, and sometimes luck or fortuitous timing,” he explained how it is important to take your time and put all your effort into finding the important sources. Barry talks about how a newspaper is an important part of people’s lives. A good journalist knows how to approach a story, its facts and sources to produce a worthy article to be published, he concluded.