Craft of journalism

Polish master craftsperson

An article in the Economist reviews a book about the late Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski, using the Greek historian Herodotus to underpin the timeless quality of his writing -- his 'craft'.

Herodotus taught Kapuscinski certain human and reporting skills which no amount of technology could have offered. Among these were tenacity, humility and the simple art of having first asked one source a question, to ask it again of another and compare the answers. It sounds almost disarmingly simple: to wander, to talk, to look, to listen. Herodotus also taught Kapuscinksi the value of self-doubt and—the two go hand-in-hand—rabid, insatiable curiosity.