Modern Journalism Skills: AI Era Essentials
- Journalism has always adapted too changing times, but the rise of generative AI marks the first shift in how journalism is produced.
- As more routine work becomes automated, what skills will journalists need most?
- Alan Rusbridger, former editor in chief of The Guardian, revisited a 1969 list of essential journalist qualities in his 2020 book, "news and How to Use It." The...
By Orr hirschauge & Adi Barill,
co-founders of Alchemiq
Journalism has always adapted too changing times, but the rise of generative AI marks the first shift in how journalism is produced. This changes everything for the profession.
As more routine work becomes automated, what skills will journalists need most?
‘Rat-like cunning’
Alan Rusbridger, former editor in chief of The Guardian, revisited a 1969 list of essential journalist qualities in his 2020 book, “news and How to Use It.” The list came from Sunday Times foreign correspondent Nick Tomalin.
Tomalin believed success in journalism required “rat-like cunning, a plausible manner, and a little literary ability.”
He defined “rat-like cunning” as the ability “to ferret out and publish things that people don’t want to be known.” A “plausible manner” was “useful for surviving… helpful with the entertaining presentation of it.”
Tomalin also considered these traits helpful, but not essential:
- “Total recall.”
- “A good digestion and a steady head.”
- “Enough idealism to inspire indignant prose, but not enough to inhibit detached professionalism.”
- “A paranoid temperament.”
- “A knack with telephone, trains, and petty officials.”
- “The capacity to steal other people’s ideas and phrases is also invaluable.”
- “The strength of character to lead a disrupted life without going absolutely haywire.”
Tomalin died four years later from a syrian missile strike in the Golan Heights.
The Dunleavy school
Susan Mulcahy and Frank DiGiacomo’s 2024 history of the New York Post, “Paper of Wreckage,” presents a different viewpoint. They quote reporter richard Esposito describing the lessons he learned from Steve Dunleavy, a relentless tabloid reporter known for his aggressive style.
“How to get a picture from a widow, or how to get a mother whose son might have killed somebody to get you into her apartment.”
“The first thing was always wear a shirt, tie, and jacket. Make people feel you’re respecting them.”
“To bring flowers to someone’s house and say ‘I’m sorry you’ve had a tragedy in your life.'”
Eric fentman, an associate editorial page columnist and editor, summed up Dunleavy’s approach: “His strength as a journalist was his willingness to do anything for a story. And his weakness was his willingness to do anything for a story.”
Mail Men
A third set of qualities appears in “Mail Men: The Unauthorized Story of the Daily Mail” (2017) by Adrian Addison, als