Journalist

In the early 19th century, the term journalist once meant simply someone who wrote for journals, such as Charles Dickens in his early career. The term has come to mean a writer for newspapers and magazines as well, and "journalist" is often used interchangeably with reporter. Regardless of medium, it now carries a connotation or expectation of professional reporting, with consideration for truth and ethics. This expectation is not always met, as journalists may publicly or privately take sides, but this is not taken lightly when revealed.

See: journalism

Many journalists write for periodicals, but journalists also write books or publish on the Internet. Broadcast journalists appear on radio or television.

19th Century journalists

• Nellie Bly
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge - political essays, poetry, and reportage
• Charles Dickens (1812-1870) - started as a shorthand writer logging debates in the courts and Houses of Parliament before becoming a Parliamentary journalist
• Pierce Egan (1772-1849) - early sportswriter[?] and reporter on popular culture
• Jacob Riis (1849-1914) - journalist and slum reformer

20th Century print journalists

• Ben Bradlee[?], editor of the Washington Post at the time of the Watergate scandal
• Winston Churchill (1874-1965) war correspondent in the Boer War, captured by the Boers
• David Halberstam
• Walter Lippmann (1889-1974)
• Jonathan Meades
• H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) - essayist, critic, and editor of the Baltimore Sun.
• George Orwell (1903-1950) - reported on poverty, misery, and the Spanish Civil War
• James (Scotty) Reston[?]
• George Seldes[?] (1890-1995) - American journalist, editor and publisher of In Fact.
• Robert Woodward[?] and Carl Bernstein[?] - uncovered the Watergate scandal.
• Thomas Jackson
• Walter Winchell

20th Century broadcast journalists

• Walter Cronkite, former United Press correspondent, TV anchor for CBS News[?] in the 50s, 60s
• Edward R. Murrow, CBS News[?] radio correspondent in London Blitz, maker of TV documentaries[?], noted interviewer
• Sorious Samura, CNN TV documentary[?] maker from Sierra Leone

Internet journalists

• Matt Drudge - Actively involved in revelations of the scandals of the Clinton administration.

Modern journalists

• Greg Palast

There are numerous examples of journalists turned novelists, both in the past and in the present, amongst them

• Amanda Craig, who writes satirical novels about English society
• David Gates, who wrote about books and music for Newsweek
• Carl Hiaasen, who writes about the corruption and glitter of Miami and Miami Beach, which he also covered as a reporter.