The reporter occupies an important place in news reporting. He/she is the ear and the eye of his/her medium. It is what he/she reports that the audience will know about. He/she touches lives with his report. As such, a reporter must possess certain attributes for him/her to function properly.
- Nose for news: A reporter lives on news, he must have an instinct for news, and that is, he should be able to identify a newsworthy event. He should be able to generate news from anyone no matter how important or insignificant that person is.
- Good command of written and spoken language of his medium: To do your job well, you must be proficient in the language of the news. This will enable you to learn as many things as possible. The present trend towards specialization in news reporting makes it mandatory for reporters to learn as much as possible on the subject they are assigned to, such as politics, science, labour, economics and history.
- Speed and accuracy: As a reporter, you have to bear in mind that your medium is competing with others in the market. To meet a deadline, you need to race against time in gathering and presenting news. Remember the saying that journalism is history in a hurry.
- Objectivity: You need to develop the ability to be impartial, impersonal, objective and dispassionate. You should not shift the emphasis, twist the angle or colour the story. Though you can afford to be ruthless, remorseless in condemning unfair happenings in feature or editorial writings, news reporting differs; what the listeners or readers want in news is fact and not your opinion or emotional reaction.
- Perseverance: As a reporter you need to persevere and go the extra–mile while pursuing a story. Remember that there is a wide variety of people, while some may have news to offer, others may have, but may not be willing to divulge it. As such, if you are in undue haste, it may damage your investigation by causing you to miss the vital part of the news.
- Ability to establish contacts: As a reporter, it is not enough for you to know how to establish contacts; you should try to sustain contacts. Do not despise anybody; the office assistant or even the cleaner may be your best source in an organization. So, be friendly with them, as you would want to be with their boss.
- Trustworthiness: As a reporter, you need to respect the confidence reposed in you by your source. On no account should you divulge your source of information. Many reporters/journalists in the world have opted to go to prison; rather than divulge the source of their information. In Nigeria, such persons include Nduka Irabor and Tunde Thompson.
- Knowledge of working tools: To facilitate your job, you do not only need to possess some aids you must know how to use them. These include a camera and computer. In fact, in this age of computer-assisted journalism, it will be odd for a reporter not to be computer literate and also know how to search for information on the Internet. Besides, the knowledge of shorthand will be an added advantage.
- Ethics of the profession: Every profession regulates the conduct of its practitioners in terms of duty and ethical behaviour. Journalism involves the kind of trust that imposes strong obligations on all those who practice it. You should keep abreast of the ethics of the journalism profession and also obey the ethics.
- Versatility: As a reporter you must have knowledge of the beat you are assigned to cover. Also, you need to know about the community where you are operating.
Thus, take extra time to equip yourself with this quality, as no school of journalism will teach you that. A good reporter should also be pleasant, neat and stay intellectually alert, optimistic and adaptable.