What Makes A Good Journalist?

An Interview with Rosie Swash
By Andrew Hendry


Rosie Swash believes passion is vital to be a good reporter, after starting out as a Good For Nothing Magazine journalist.

Swash, an established music writer for the Guardian Unlimited, said that a good reporter is ‘rigorous, passionate, opinionated and open-minded’. The 25-year-old got into reporting because of her love for writing and music.

Choosing to learn from experience rather than education, she opted not to train as a journalist, managing to get a job with Good For Nothing in 2005. When the company folded in the same year, Swash pursued her passion for writing and worked on a casual basis for the Observer Music Monthly until 2006.

Swash does not agree with the view of reporting as a ‘glamorous profession’, after having to work a number of ‘terrible jobs’ and spending ‘two years of writing things for free’. Despite this, Swash has not lost her passion, saying ‘I still get excited by new music so it's not hard to be enthusiastic’.

Swash believes that it is her attention to detail and authentication of facts, which makes her a good reporter, but admitted that she had to mature as a writer before obtaining these skills.

In light of recent criticism aimed at reporters, Swash believes that it is actually online reporters who have lost respect in the eyes of the public, who see online reporting ‘as throw-away, because the emphasis is on speed’.

In such a competitive industry, Swash advises aspiring reporters to ‘be prepared that you have to make things happen for yourself.’