And they can be decent company, because part of their job requires them to be great at small talk and feeling empathy for other people, so they're terrific listeners and have interesting stories about dealing with the great and powerful, and have all sorts of gossip from behind the headlines.
But after a week at work, a lot of them just want to crash out on the couch and binge-watch some Netflix instead of going out and socialising, because being the only journo at a barbecue can be a massive pain in the arse.
Everybody has their opinions about the state of the modern news media and most of it is fairly uninformed and dull, (and yeah, some of us have enough opinions to start a blog about it, so we're fully aware of the hypocrisy involved here). And if you're the member of this vast and sprawling industry at a social gathering, you're almost guaranteed to hear those opinions. At length.
If you're surrounded by non-journos, you'll be lucky if you get away with some light interrogation about the 'real' story behind something, and at worst, you might be held up as an example of everything that is wrong with the world. In between mouthfuls of sausage and bread, somebody will mention something about the bloody media and how they all distort and deceive.
In particularly awful cases, you'll have to sit there and listen to a full conspiracy theory from cousin Phil or Mary's partner Sean, who are happily and obliviously undermining everything you do every day. It's doubtful that they even know they're insulting you, they're just declaring that you're a liar and a cheat and a fraud, that's all.
Most of the time, it will be casual insults, and they will not even realise they're doing it. Friends and family will talk about the media in such broad terms they might not even think they're talking about you, but it's hard not to take it personally when people who have never set foot in a newsroom start pontificating about how all journos suck. Do you need another drink?
And then it turns out they're talking about a completely different radio station/newspaper/TV network/website to the one you work at, but that doesn't matter, because you're all the bloody same. Everybody knows that. You're all responsible for everything everybody else does, even if they're hated competitors.
Nobody would get very far if they started declaring that all office managers or account executives or mechanics were charlatans, based on their own limited and anecdotal experiences, but it doesn't matter if you work at RNZ or the Women's Weekly, all journalists are the same.
There are some commonalities between us - every journo at every company never fully turns off, they've always got an ear out for a story - but the media industry is fucking huge, even after years of deconstruction, and any generalisations are pointless, because we've all got different motivations and goals and methods
Journos do like to get out of the house and have a beer or three, and often do it with colleagues who work in the same field. This is partly because they all do shitty shift work, but also because it's easier to relax, because you don't have that weird spotlight. You're all in the same game. There is still plenty of moaning, but at least we have a vague idea of what the hell we're talking about.
- Ron Troupe
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