In the first two parts of this article, I wrote about the need for specialized knowledge and tools for the job as major requirement to be a professional journalist.
In this final part, my emphasis is on comportment which is defined as a dignified manner or conduct.
Professional comportment is critical to succeeding as a journalist. It is not enough to have specialized knowledge and tools for the job. Lack of comportment may make a journalist behave in a way that is unbecoming of a professional.
The Code of Ethics requires that journalists should dress and comport himself in a manner that conforms to public taste.
There is way to dress for every occasion. Like any other professional, we should dress appropriately for whatever assignment we are attending to command the kind of respect we deserve.
No excuse is good enough to dress casually to an assignment where every other person is formally dressed. Not even the poor pay which makes some journalists dress like lesser beings and expect to be taken seriously.
Dressing well does not cost a fortune; it’s a matter of mindset and self worth.
A professional journalist should be very civil in dealing with colleagues and the people we report, no matter the pressure of work.
At public functions, we should exhibit a high sense of decorum and not behave as if we are above the law as some do.
Journalists are supposed to be respected and not tolerated which is the case in some instances because of the attitude of some colleagues.
We are supposed to be gentlemen of the press. Our comportment should not in any way suggest otherwise.
