Journalist Type People:Chicken or Egg situation: Maybe OT or not!!

Hi
I was flicking through a motorbike mag last night and was reading a feature on wheelie’s and it stuck me that the journo’s were probably pretty handy on bikes.
Looking at the bigger picture I guess cycling journo’s must be pretty handy riders too (or maybe not :wink:)and people who write for, say, computer mags must know their stuff also etc etc.
So my question is: are journalists interested in one particular area before they learn their trade and then stay in that field of interest for most of their working lives or do they become journalists first and then look for a job and then try to become good at that topic.
Hope that makes sense!
Any ideas??
Cheers
Steve

It depends on who they are, who they work for and the philosophy of the publishing company. I think most specialist journalists start off with a passion for a particular interest and the journalism develops from there. If you’re good, you should be able to write about pretty much anything, but personally I don’t think you can fake passion for something like mountain biking or motorcycles.

Bauer, who were emap, have a contrary philosophy, where they train journalists then expect them to be able to work on any of their specialist titles, but people tend to gravitate to the stuff they’re interested in and you can spot fake enthusiasm a mile off. Have a look at Trail Magazine for a great example of a mag’ written by people who claim to ‘live for the outdoors’ but actually live in Peterboghorror…

Cynical, moi?

I’m a reality TV and showbiz journalist, definitely not because that’s what I’m interested in – but because it’s what everyone else is interested in!

Was a hard news journalist for years and years, but you go where the work is like any trade.

Magazines can be quite low-paid, so most bike journos do it for the love and freebies, I reckon.

A friend of mine used to be a motorsport journo in the 70s and 80s, then he went to write for Wisden. He now ghost writes biographies for people (not celebs, more historical figures, he’s usually instructed by the dead persons estate)

To me that seems more like a writer first, but ultimately a passion for the subject is still needed, even if it means you dont stick to one area.

It would seeming depend entirely on whether write for the telegraph or not.