There are many kinds of journalists. 

There are likely more varieties of journalists than there are flavors of ice cream at Baskin-Robbins. 

Government reporters are one flavor. 

Then there are education reporters, crime and cops reporters, features or human-interest writers, well you get the idea. 

Reporters have a lot in common with each other. 

They also differ quite a bit.

Whether they work as a team or are more siloed in their approaches, what journalists do requires a broad skill set and an inherent need for adaptability. 

Some see themselves as writers first and reporters second. 

Others see the writing as a necessary part of the trade but always second fiddle to the news-gathering piece. 

Some are just great storytellers, able to grab readers with the narrative and introduce you to people and make you feel like you have known them your whole life or take you to places that you have never been through their rich descriptions and careful attention to detail. 

Others are able to take the most complicated set of facts and boil it down to the most essential elements, writing tight and bright news stories telling just what you want and need to know. 

All of them are, or should be, committed truth tellers. 

So, who is to say what makes the best reporter? 

There probably is no such thing as “the best” kind of reporter. 

Different kinds of reporters covering different kinds of stories, writing in different but appropriate ways, all complement one another. 

Diversity in newsrooms makes for stronger, much stronger, newspapers. 

Newsrooms can be eclectic places full of interesting conversations. 

Anyone who thinks newsrooms are just full of aging liberals would be surprised to spend a day at the local paper. 

Reporters come from all walks of life, socio-economic backgrounds, experiences and political persuasions. 

The more diverse a newsroom the better the newspaper, always. 

While journalists are not homogeneous, there is one thing that all great reporters have in common.

That is curiosity.

What makes for a good newspaper reporter is the same thing that makes for a good friend, they are good listeners. 

Good reporters — and good friends — ask questions and then get out of the way. 

They let interviews — and conversations — breathe. 

They talk with people, not at them, over them or about them. 

As a matter of fact, when you think about what makes a good reporter, or good friend, it is pretty much the same as what it takes to make a good person.