Mojotrotters: Roberto Rocha's blog
mo•jo n., 1. short for mobile journalist. 2. a flair for charm and creativity.
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Words

  • by Roberto Rocha
  • published from India
  • on 2010.11.01

We were featured in the Montreal Gazette

At first I was like “WTF, who wants to know what’s in my bag?” But then I was like, “Cool, people want to know what’s in my bag!”

Barring columnists, journalists never talk about themselves. We’re supposed to remain neutral, self-effacing, mere transmitters of facts and opinions.

All that suppressed narcissism builds up inside. The pressure grows, distends our bellies and swells our skulls, and one day it becomes so unbearable that we slip in a bias in a politically-sensitive story.

It’s great for web hits and ad impressions. The comments come pouring in. But it sucks for credibility.

The newspaper I work for, The Montreal Gazette, has engineered a clever way to relieve the pressure: every few months, it lets its journalists gab about mundane details of their lives: how they get to work, what they eat, and what they carry in their purses/pockets/bags.

I wrote for that last one.

But Roberto, I hear you saying, you’re travelling for one year and blogging. All you do is talk about yourself. You don’t need that pressure release.

My narcissism takes a long time to deflate. A long time.

Read the story and watch a video here.

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Comments

2 people commented so far
  1. Beto
    Que coisa boa, vc está com muita clareza a respeito de vc mesmo, sinto uma bslíssima crise existencial, Parabéns. Qiezera ter tido esta sorte na sua idadde.
    Beijão
    mamãe

    by sandribo pada on 2010.11.01
  2. Filhão
    Lí a matéria no Le Gazzete.
    OOOOtima!
    A Véia

    by sandribo pada on 2010.11.01

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