(原於11/2/2008發表在小妺的臉書上，現轉載至網誌)
小妺（誤？）入新聞行業蓋兩年多以來，每天上班問不同的問題，下班被問相同的問題，前者幸而仍覺有趣，後者實不相瞞已有點不勝其煩。謹此列出「記者FAQ」，各位行內行外朋友遇過甚麼有關你們職業的奇難雜題、有甚麼妙答方法，歡迎分享。
xxx
我被問了成千上萬次的問題
不知道記者這職業對人們來說是否真的很神秘，但我幾乎每次跟行外人談及我的工作都會被問以下問題的其中數題：
1.你係咪要出去採訪？（我常常想，如果我答我是當老師的，會否被問「你係咪要教書」？如果我答我是當醫生的，會否被問「你係咪要醫人」？）
2.咁係咪要寫稿？定係你採訪完有人幫你寫？（有沒有人可以告訴我，香港記者的形象真的低落到被以為是不識字的嗎？）
3.你係咪拿住支咪？（這是「電視台記者才是記者」概念反映之一）
4. 你係咪要影相？（這個問題還算正常）
5.你係咪要24小時standby,隨傳隨到？
6.你係咪做到三更半夜？
7.你有冇假放？（這三個問題反映...哈哈，記者在部份人心目中還是敬業樂業的，值得欣慰。不過大家放心，記者也是人，要上班也要吃飯，也要睡覺，根據勞工法例也要放假。）
8.你係咪訪問過好多名人？／你訪問過邊d名人？（Well...點答？）
9.做記者咪要成日開車去出事現場，好危險？（突發記者才是記者？）
10.你係咪做娛樂版？（娛記才是記者？？？）
xxx
我最討厭的問題
1. 你喺邊度做嘢？（答：某報）哦，咁你唔係做記者吖嘛？
2. 喺電視台做人工係咪高過你地好多？
3. 點解你唔去電視台做？
我寫這些出來不是要挖苦甚麼人,有很多人的工作我都不明白,我也不期望所有人明白我的工作,只是覺得問這些問題的人無論要怎麼看不起別人的職業,也應該有一點禮貌而已。
xxx
朋友: 喂我地約咗x號晚出嚟食飯,你得唔得閒呀?
Fanny: 星期幾嚟架?
朋友: 星期x。
Fanny: 噢, 唔得呀, 我要返工呀, 你地玩得開心d啦。
朋友: 夜晚喎。
Fanny: 我知你講緊夜晚呀。
朋友: 你放左工嚟咪得囉。
Fanny: 我放得工嚟到你地都散場架啦。
朋友: 你幾點放工?
Fanny: 唔知架。
朋友: 咁大約呢?
Fanny: 好難講架,日日唔同。
朋友: 咁通常呢?
Fanny: 冇得通常架...我真係唔知會幾點放工。
朋友: 你返shift?
Fanny: 唔係。
朋友: 嘩你份工咁辛苦, 咁夜放工, 咁朝早幾點返工?
Fanny: 唔定架... （救命！係朋友的就放過我啦！）
xxx
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
My Yunnan trip (Part 2): Hiking along the Ancient Tea Horse Road
September 26, 2010
Not as popularly travelled by tourists as the Silk Road, the Ancient Tea Horse Road preserves much tranquility and peace.
Dating back to the Han Dynasty and maturely developed in the Tang Dynasty, the passage was a major way for the old Middle Kingdom to trade tea, salt, sugar and other daily consumables for horses and herbs with its western neighbour Tibet, and extended further to Southeast Asian countries like Nepal and Burma.
We hiked for 10km along the Lameipo (臘梅坡) trail, which is reportedly one of the best conserved sections of the Ancient Tea Horse Road. A large stone craved with the words “Tea Horse Post” greeted us as we arrived at the starting point of the trail. Several nicely decorated houses juxtaposed at the foot of the hill, with maize hung outside the outer walls and laid on the terraces for drying under the sun, making colourful sights.
The upward slope was rather steep. But overall speaking the trail was manageable for an unskilled hiker like me. One of the oldest participants, the 70-year-old Mr. Cheung, was asked whether he really wanted to go with us. Unlike on the previous two days when we hiked on concrete lanes and when a van was available to pick up participants who lagged behind the team or needed some rest, the hill was not accessible by vehicles. The elder, however, insisted in walking for at least a while with the team. So he did it! After hiking up for some time, two members of our escort fire services team accompanied him going down the slope to the starting point. We are proud of Mr. Cheung’s effort!
The uphill section at the beginning was perhaps the most demanding part of the hike. But after taking a rest at the first pavilion we encountered, the way ahead was much flatter. We could see tea trees planted on terraces as we looked around. And as we approached the peak, we entered a big tea tree field! Blooming white flowers of tea trees greeted us with pleasant smell from both sides as we walked along the narrow path in the middle. A clear sky right above us brought us some more cheers.
Later we entered a forest. In contrast with the open space of the tea tree field, it was much dimmer as sunlight was blocked by tall trees. The ground was wet and slippery, apparently because rainwater which dropped on the day before had not yet dried up. I tripped while stepping onto a flat rock, so did some others. More participants tripped when we hiked downhill – it was really not that easy to balance there!
Mrs. Lam had an injury in her leg and was walking with noticeable difficulty. Hand in hand with her husband, who joined this trip to accompany her, she finally completed the whole route. We all gave her a round of applause at our subsequent sharing session at night.
After five hours of hike, I was excited to see a milestone with the number 1 painted on it – which indicated there was only one kilometer left before reaching the end of the trail. Despite my tired legs and the steep downward slope, I accelerated forward because… I was really hungry! We finally reached a village on the other side of the hill. Congratulations! Everyone made it!
Not as popularly travelled by tourists as the Silk Road, the Ancient Tea Horse Road preserves much tranquility and peace.
Dating back to the Han Dynasty and maturely developed in the Tang Dynasty, the passage was a major way for the old Middle Kingdom to trade tea, salt, sugar and other daily consumables for horses and herbs with its western neighbour Tibet, and extended further to Southeast Asian countries like Nepal and Burma.
We hiked for 10km along the Lameipo (臘梅坡) trail, which is reportedly one of the best conserved sections of the Ancient Tea Horse Road. A large stone craved with the words “Tea Horse Post” greeted us as we arrived at the starting point of the trail. Several nicely decorated houses juxtaposed at the foot of the hill, with maize hung outside the outer walls and laid on the terraces for drying under the sun, making colourful sights.
The upward slope was rather steep. But overall speaking the trail was manageable for an unskilled hiker like me. One of the oldest participants, the 70-year-old Mr. Cheung, was asked whether he really wanted to go with us. Unlike on the previous two days when we hiked on concrete lanes and when a van was available to pick up participants who lagged behind the team or needed some rest, the hill was not accessible by vehicles. The elder, however, insisted in walking for at least a while with the team. So he did it! After hiking up for some time, two members of our escort fire services team accompanied him going down the slope to the starting point. We are proud of Mr. Cheung’s effort!
The uphill section at the beginning was perhaps the most demanding part of the hike. But after taking a rest at the first pavilion we encountered, the way ahead was much flatter. We could see tea trees planted on terraces as we looked around. And as we approached the peak, we entered a big tea tree field! Blooming white flowers of tea trees greeted us with pleasant smell from both sides as we walked along the narrow path in the middle. A clear sky right above us brought us some more cheers.
Later we entered a forest. In contrast with the open space of the tea tree field, it was much dimmer as sunlight was blocked by tall trees. The ground was wet and slippery, apparently because rainwater which dropped on the day before had not yet dried up. I tripped while stepping onto a flat rock, so did some others. More participants tripped when we hiked downhill – it was really not that easy to balance there!
Mrs. Lam had an injury in her leg and was walking with noticeable difficulty. Hand in hand with her husband, who joined this trip to accompany her, she finally completed the whole route. We all gave her a round of applause at our subsequent sharing session at night.
After five hours of hike, I was excited to see a milestone with the number 1 painted on it – which indicated there was only one kilometer left before reaching the end of the trail. Despite my tired legs and the steep downward slope, I accelerated forward because… I was really hungry! We finally reached a village on the other side of the hill. Congratulations! Everyone made it!
(Photos by courtesy of my group-mate Mr. Tony Ho)
Sunday, October 03, 2010
My Yunnan trip (Part 1): Visit to Da Zhai Primary School
We arrived in the town of Yixiang (倚像鎮) in two coaches, bringing schoolbags and stationery in a van. The road was narrow but the school was not too difficult to access. As our vehicles could not drive through the path leading to the campus, we got off somewhere in the village, walked for about 10 minutes and relayed the schoolbag and stationery packs to Da Zhai Xiao Xue (Da Zhai primary school 大寨小學) .
The 60-odd of us, in “uniform” T-shirts, queued up outside the school entrance, just like pupils waiting to enter their classroom. Children, all wearing red ties and some in colourful ethnic costumes, lined up along both sides of the path clapping their hands and welcoming us. But don’t expect to walk straight through! Despite greeting us with sincere smiles, the adult villagers blocked the school entrance with a long metal rod – one which looked like a gate arm which you would see at a toll station or a car park entrance. It’s the locals’ tradition to let visitors in only after drinking the wine they give. Well, I was told of this tradition beforehand, but could not imagine that the villagers would seriously set up a road block to make us drink! Two girls stood at the school entrance and handed each of us a fully filled, goat horn-shaped container. As a non-drinker I managed to escape it by pretending to sip a bit and then passing the horn to the participant behind me. My fellow hikers later told me that it was REALLY strong wine. A member of my group indeed fell a little unwell after the treat…
The school had about 200 pupils, from primary one to six. But we only had the chance to meet 30 of them who lived nearby because most others had gone home to reunite with their families for mid-Autumn holidays. With about 20 participants, I walked into one of the classrooms to visit 10 kids – They just looked at us quietly. My fellow hikers and I waved and said hello to the children but they didn’t seem very responsive. That made me a bit nervous. As a first-timer to take part in such a school visit, the quietness in the classroom suddenly made me feel I was an intruder. I greeted the class teacher Mr Wen and hoped he would give us some hints on what the pupils liked to play. There was some dead air at the beginning, as we were not well prepared beforehand. Luckily a cheerful hiker broke the ice by teaching the kids an Indonesian folk song. Then we continued with playing games.
Some of the children in the school were of the Han ethnic group (漢族) like us, some were of Miao (苗族) and others of Hani (哈尼族). The Miao girls, in bright pink dresses, were all talented dancers. Unlike the relatively shy or less warmed-up class we first visited, the second classroom was full of cheers and laughter. After brief greetings, the Miao girls quickly agreed to perform their ethnic dance to us. Later the Han pupils also sang together.
Wang Mei (王梅), 11, a Miao girl of primary five, told me she was a member of the Long Tan Fourth Team (龍潭四隊) in her village. Like her, several of the kids cited their residential affiliations when giving their self-introduction. Mei’s 17-year-old elder brother worked on a tea farm but she wanted to become a teacher after growing up. Huang Chen (黃晨), the only boy in the second classroom, was in primary one and did not have any idea of a career yet.
I don’t know how high the chance is for Mei to realize her dream. Yixiang’s party secretary Mr Tao Xiaoyue told us that the town had 14 primary schools but just one secondary school. There were 4173 primary school pupils and 1097 secondary school students, meaning only fewer than one received secondary education in the town they lived.
The teaching facilities in the school were better than what I had expected. The first classroom we visited was equipped with a desktop computer. But accommodation was far from satisfactory. There were six bunk beds in one of the classrooms we visited, placed behind pupils’ desks. This is where the kids lived - we could see their towels and toothbrushes on the beds. At night, more than 20 of them would sleep in the six bunk beds. The school used to have a dormitory, but it was found to be a dangerous building and was therefore demolished. It is applying for funding from Sowers Action to rebuild a safe new one.
Despite the cramped living condition, the children didn’t have a single word of complaint during my interactions with them. All seen on their faces were smiles and cheerfulness, and shyness on some of them. After some games and chats, the local government and the school treated us with a supper and a barbeque. The villagers set a big fire and danced around it, and later invited us to join. I am not a dancer but managed to enjoy the fun by following their steps and running with the little kids.
An observant participant among us, Mr Poon, ditched the barbeque and shared with us what he had found in the school tuck shop in a later sharing session. In a visited to the shop, he noticed that the bottled water sold there contained a high degree of additives. He told the boss of the shop that the materials would harm children’s health. She responded in her local dialect, which Mr Poon did not understand, and so we do not know whether she was aware of the harm at all.
The pupils may not understand what they were drinking every day. But they do know the fun of dancing and playing with their schoolmates and they know the happiness of being at school. Perhaps those at Da Zhai Primary School were already much better off than many others in remote hill areas. Perhaps there are still a lot more to do for the children in China. We moved on to hike on the Ancient Tea Horse Road the following day and the children moved on with their lives.
(Photos by courtesy of my fellow hikers Mr. Yiu-ming Lee and Mr. Tony Ho)
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Let there be peace
Let there be peace.
Let hatred not spread.
It was already a tragedy for a former policeman to have turned into a gunman who shot civilians.
It was heartbreaking enough to see innocent travelers dying and being injured, and families losing their beloved members.
We do not need more obscenities of people hurling insults to each other.
As we blame Philippine policemen who were sent to the deadly scene unprepared, apparently ill-trained and without proper tools, some even not wearing a flak jacket and a helmet, think of it: Don’t they also have families as the victims do?
Aren’t they also victims of a corrupt government, which has failed to provide them with appropriate training and equipments?
If we had a family member whose work required him to fight an armed hijacker with such minimal protection for himself, would we have reacted in the same way as we do now?
True, the professional Hong Kong police might have put the situation under control in a few minutes. That is because we live in a blessed place.
I may be too optimistic, but let’s hope this horrible incident will exert pressure on those in power in the Philippines to revamp their governance under international watch.
Let’s hope those who lost their lives in this mayhem rest in peace, and those who survive live bravely thereafter.
Let hatred not spread.
It was already a tragedy for a former policeman to have turned into a gunman who shot civilians.
It was heartbreaking enough to see innocent travelers dying and being injured, and families losing their beloved members.
We do not need more obscenities of people hurling insults to each other.
As we blame Philippine policemen who were sent to the deadly scene unprepared, apparently ill-trained and without proper tools, some even not wearing a flak jacket and a helmet, think of it: Don’t they also have families as the victims do?
Aren’t they also victims of a corrupt government, which has failed to provide them with appropriate training and equipments?
If we had a family member whose work required him to fight an armed hijacker with such minimal protection for himself, would we have reacted in the same way as we do now?
True, the professional Hong Kong police might have put the situation under control in a few minutes. That is because we live in a blessed place.
I may be too optimistic, but let’s hope this horrible incident will exert pressure on those in power in the Philippines to revamp their governance under international watch.
Let’s hope those who lost their lives in this mayhem rest in peace, and those who survive live bravely thereafter.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Justice based on family background?
24 August, 2010
She is the niece of a top judge in the city. She has assaulted a policeman for the third time – and this time slapping an officer in his face right in front of a television camera, after her car veered into the wrong lane and clashed into a coach and she refused to take a breath test.
It came as no surprise that the trial of Amina Bokhary’s case caught much media attention.
And it would be reasonable for any member of the public to find it too light a sentence that she was put on one-year probation, fined HK$8,000 and disqualified from driving for one year for a total of three charges she was convicted of.
Had the defendant not been Bokhary, I would still find it too lenient a penalty on someone who had demonstrated such incivility and blatantly disregarded the rule of law.
Judging from the facts known so far, I see no evidence suggesting that the woman’s family tie with Court of Final Appeal judge Kemal Bokhary had led magistrate Anthony Yuen Wai-ming to favour her in the ruling. It would be too convenient to impute motives to the magistrate solely by seeing the defendant’s kinship. But Mr Yuen’s judgment did cast legitimate worries on anyone who cares about justice in Hong Kong.
In his own words, the magistrate has handed down the sentence taking into account the defendant’s “good background, a well-off family, good education and outstanding academic achievement with a first-class honour in bachelor of business administration," and “most importantly”, her “caring and concerned parents."
Does it mean a criminal who has challenged the law in the same way as Amina Bokhary did should be given a heavier sentence if he or she is an orphan and an underachiever at school? According Mr Yuen’s logic, the answer is yes. I would not try to argue that Bokhary’s mental problem was merely an excuse, for I believe people with genuine medical conditions which affect their behaviour in a way relevant to the offences they commit deserve more forgiveness than those who are healthy enough to master their own acts. But it is totally unconvincing to say someone with a well-off, warm family should be forgiven more than someone from a poor broken family for the same crime they have committed. Is it one’s fault to have a humble family background? It is equally disturbing to envisage an offender with a first-class honours degree treated more clemently than a secondary school leaver, who already has fewer opportunities in the society. Shouldn’t one be more civil-minded after receiving good education? If not, what is education for?
The appeal of the sentence on Amina Bokhary is important not just because a higher court will review the sentence in this particular case. It will hopefully be an occasion for a higher court to judge whether the reasoning behind Mr Yuen’s judgment should be upheld.
She is the niece of a top judge in the city. She has assaulted a policeman for the third time – and this time slapping an officer in his face right in front of a television camera, after her car veered into the wrong lane and clashed into a coach and she refused to take a breath test.
It came as no surprise that the trial of Amina Bokhary’s case caught much media attention.
And it would be reasonable for any member of the public to find it too light a sentence that she was put on one-year probation, fined HK$8,000 and disqualified from driving for one year for a total of three charges she was convicted of.
Had the defendant not been Bokhary, I would still find it too lenient a penalty on someone who had demonstrated such incivility and blatantly disregarded the rule of law.
Judging from the facts known so far, I see no evidence suggesting that the woman’s family tie with Court of Final Appeal judge Kemal Bokhary had led magistrate Anthony Yuen Wai-ming to favour her in the ruling. It would be too convenient to impute motives to the magistrate solely by seeing the defendant’s kinship. But Mr Yuen’s judgment did cast legitimate worries on anyone who cares about justice in Hong Kong.
In his own words, the magistrate has handed down the sentence taking into account the defendant’s “good background, a well-off family, good education and outstanding academic achievement with a first-class honour in bachelor of business administration," and “most importantly”, her “caring and concerned parents."
Does it mean a criminal who has challenged the law in the same way as Amina Bokhary did should be given a heavier sentence if he or she is an orphan and an underachiever at school? According Mr Yuen’s logic, the answer is yes. I would not try to argue that Bokhary’s mental problem was merely an excuse, for I believe people with genuine medical conditions which affect their behaviour in a way relevant to the offences they commit deserve more forgiveness than those who are healthy enough to master their own acts. But it is totally unconvincing to say someone with a well-off, warm family should be forgiven more than someone from a poor broken family for the same crime they have committed. Is it one’s fault to have a humble family background? It is equally disturbing to envisage an offender with a first-class honours degree treated more clemently than a secondary school leaver, who already has fewer opportunities in the society. Shouldn’t one be more civil-minded after receiving good education? If not, what is education for?
The appeal of the sentence on Amina Bokhary is important not just because a higher court will review the sentence in this particular case. It will hopefully be an occasion for a higher court to judge whether the reasoning behind Mr Yuen’s judgment should be upheld.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
小記者的五年
五年了，是時候做一個小結。
五年前我剛踏足傳媒界時，讀了陸鏗先生的《大記者三章》，每個字都看得懂，以為自己看懂了。
今日再翻此書，對同一句說話的理解竟然截然不同。
還記得當時的我只是跑了新聞數個月，便接受了當時上司的建議，加入政治組，這一調動便奠定了我的工作範疇至現在。每當回想起來，總覺得有點遺憾，不是說我對政治新聞沒有興趣，而是我認為一個新聞記者應該經過一段全面的體驗，打好基礎後再專注一、兩個專長範疇發展。在這行業內，我見到一些涉獵新聞種類極廣的前輩，也有見過一些很資深，但只懂一樣事情的前輩。直至現在，我還是蠻喜歡做政治新聞的，不過不時也會恐怕若自己不趁年青接觸不同的事物，遲些（假設我仍留在這個行業的話）會成為一個光是年資增長而練歷沒有加深的記者。上周六，我被派往採訪一宗直昇機在維港緊急降落的突發新聞，竟尋回我首個星期做記者時的興奮！
我首兩年的工作是一個階段，從零開始，揣摩基本採訪技巧，沒有老師卻又當身邊每一位同事、同業、前輩都是老師。（我沒有後悔在大學不選讀新聞系，因為我從實踐中確認了新聞和新聞學是兩回事。）每天拿同一宗新聞，比較一下同業怎樣處理、自己怎樣處理，於是知道自己有甚麼不足，可以怎樣改進；偶爾找到一些獨家料子，雖不是甚麼驚天動地的消息，但對於一個新人來已是很好的鼓勵。次兩年，轉了報館，由於人手的關係，被編派了獨自負責政治組裏的一個範疇(sub-beat) ，當時的感覺是越級挑戰。有一次坐在小巴上，突然想到，如果《南華早報》的左派新聞做得不好，那就是我的責任了！頓時覺得責任很重，壓力很大。現在回看，其實是好事，因為當時的轉變迫我成長，例如迫我建立自己的人際網絡，做一些跟以前所做不同類型的新聞。
最近一年，開始有一些新的領悟，尤其在記者與採訪對象的關係方面。老師所教，書中所說，均指記者與被訪者有「合作」的關係，這點是我從前不太接受的。或許我對人與人之間關係的理解過於理想化吧。若陰謀論一點說，「合作」也可說成「互相利用」。某程度上說，我在記者工作上經常「利用」別人，因為所有採訪都是無償的，大部份時候對方都沒有義務回答我的問題，當然政府部門有責任公開資訊是例外。不過當事情倒過來，別人想「利用」我的時候，我便要加倍小心了，否則很容易成了某些人或機構的喉舌。幹這個行業，在工作上認識的不少友好在有意無意間想影響我的看法，是很自然的事。我只希望各位友好明白，我不一定認同你的立場，至少我不可能在每件事上都贊成你的意見，但我肯定有誠意了解你的看法；我不需要你跟我站在同一立場，只要你支持新聞採訪工作，我已經十分感謝你。
說出來或頗諷刺，其實我這個人，還是蠻不喜歡跟別人打關係的。有一段時間，我甚至因此懷疑我是否適合做記者。我喜歡交朋友，也很樂意認識新朋友，但不喜歡刻意的交際，如派對飯局酒會應酬那些場合，我便很少投入。有些同業會在立法會走廊跟議員們搭肩膊，咬耳朵，我從不這樣做，最多只請議員稍為移步和我談些問題。與合得來的朋友，單對單或三兩知己才可談得深入。跟相熟的採訪對象，我會投入地跟他們討論大家有共同關心的議題，但我不喜歡問及別人的私生活。我不是那種擅於談笑風生、營造氣氛的社交高手，也深知道自己不是。幸好有不只一位前輩提點過我，傳媒有交際型的記者，也有研究型的記者，鼓勵我尋找自己發展的道路。在行內也見兩面皆精的例子，我把這些前輩視為學習對象。當然，在這數年來我也領略到，即使有多高的交際手腕，也必須要對採訪的議題熟悉，才懂問有意思的問題，採訪對象也才能給你有意思的答案。
今天在新聞界的我仍是很新的。我們行業人員流失太多、臉孔轉變得太快了，有時讓一些同業或政界朋友有錯覺，遇見留下來的記者便以為他們已幹了很多年。有傳媒界和政界朋友跟我說我已是「資深」記者，我聽了只是感到很悲哀。持五年經驗，相信在大部分行業都不可稱為資深。明早上班，我還是一個新的記者，繼續希望有新的挑戰！
五年前我剛踏足傳媒界時，讀了陸鏗先生的《大記者三章》，每個字都看得懂，以為自己看懂了。
今日再翻此書，對同一句說話的理解竟然截然不同。
還記得當時的我只是跑了新聞數個月，便接受了當時上司的建議，加入政治組，這一調動便奠定了我的工作範疇至現在。每當回想起來，總覺得有點遺憾，不是說我對政治新聞沒有興趣，而是我認為一個新聞記者應該經過一段全面的體驗，打好基礎後再專注一、兩個專長範疇發展。在這行業內，我見到一些涉獵新聞種類極廣的前輩，也有見過一些很資深，但只懂一樣事情的前輩。直至現在，我還是蠻喜歡做政治新聞的，不過不時也會恐怕若自己不趁年青接觸不同的事物，遲些（假設我仍留在這個行業的話）會成為一個光是年資增長而練歷沒有加深的記者。上周六，我被派往採訪一宗直昇機在維港緊急降落的突發新聞，竟尋回我首個星期做記者時的興奮！
我首兩年的工作是一個階段，從零開始，揣摩基本採訪技巧，沒有老師卻又當身邊每一位同事、同業、前輩都是老師。（我沒有後悔在大學不選讀新聞系，因為我從實踐中確認了新聞和新聞學是兩回事。）每天拿同一宗新聞，比較一下同業怎樣處理、自己怎樣處理，於是知道自己有甚麼不足，可以怎樣改進；偶爾找到一些獨家料子，雖不是甚麼驚天動地的消息，但對於一個新人來已是很好的鼓勵。次兩年，轉了報館，由於人手的關係，被編派了獨自負責政治組裏的一個範疇(sub-beat) ，當時的感覺是越級挑戰。有一次坐在小巴上，突然想到，如果《南華早報》的左派新聞做得不好，那就是我的責任了！頓時覺得責任很重，壓力很大。現在回看，其實是好事，因為當時的轉變迫我成長，例如迫我建立自己的人際網絡，做一些跟以前所做不同類型的新聞。
最近一年，開始有一些新的領悟，尤其在記者與採訪對象的關係方面。老師所教，書中所說，均指記者與被訪者有「合作」的關係，這點是我從前不太接受的。或許我對人與人之間關係的理解過於理想化吧。若陰謀論一點說，「合作」也可說成「互相利用」。某程度上說，我在記者工作上經常「利用」別人，因為所有採訪都是無償的，大部份時候對方都沒有義務回答我的問題，當然政府部門有責任公開資訊是例外。不過當事情倒過來，別人想「利用」我的時候，我便要加倍小心了，否則很容易成了某些人或機構的喉舌。幹這個行業，在工作上認識的不少友好在有意無意間想影響我的看法，是很自然的事。我只希望各位友好明白，我不一定認同你的立場，至少我不可能在每件事上都贊成你的意見，但我肯定有誠意了解你的看法；我不需要你跟我站在同一立場，只要你支持新聞採訪工作，我已經十分感謝你。
說出來或頗諷刺，其實我這個人，還是蠻不喜歡跟別人打關係的。有一段時間，我甚至因此懷疑我是否適合做記者。我喜歡交朋友，也很樂意認識新朋友，但不喜歡刻意的交際，如派對飯局酒會應酬那些場合，我便很少投入。有些同業會在立法會走廊跟議員們搭肩膊，咬耳朵，我從不這樣做，最多只請議員稍為移步和我談些問題。與合得來的朋友，單對單或三兩知己才可談得深入。跟相熟的採訪對象，我會投入地跟他們討論大家有共同關心的議題，但我不喜歡問及別人的私生活。我不是那種擅於談笑風生、營造氣氛的社交高手，也深知道自己不是。幸好有不只一位前輩提點過我，傳媒有交際型的記者，也有研究型的記者，鼓勵我尋找自己發展的道路。在行內也見兩面皆精的例子，我把這些前輩視為學習對象。當然，在這數年來我也領略到，即使有多高的交際手腕，也必須要對採訪的議題熟悉，才懂問有意思的問題，採訪對象也才能給你有意思的答案。
今天在新聞界的我仍是很新的。我們行業人員流失太多、臉孔轉變得太快了，有時讓一些同業或政界朋友有錯覺，遇見留下來的記者便以為他們已幹了很多年。有傳媒界和政界朋友跟我說我已是「資深」記者，我聽了只是感到很悲哀。持五年經驗，相信在大部分行業都不可稱為資深。明早上班，我還是一個新的記者，繼續希望有新的挑戰！
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