What does it take to be a columnist

By Al Montano

I’ve been sitting in a chair inside the Colombia Missourian news room for four days now and had no idea the art of column writing was all around me. 

Brian Burwell, columnist at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, could have talked to us from sunset to sundown.

But after the two and a half hours that he did speak to us, I had information overload. Becoming a columnist takes, as Burwell says, “perspective, opinion, and observation.” 

Everyone has a different angle, depending on where you’re standing. You might be seeing something from an angle that another person can’t see from their point of view. 

Burwell gave us numerous tips about what we need to do in order to become successful columnists in any industry, but most importantly, sports.

He threw out phrases like “great power of observation,” “informed opinion,” “be right, not fair,” “have a conversation,” “intimidation factor” and “fair and balance is BS.”

I personally connected a lot with this lecture because I felt that it was personalized to me, and I’m going to remember a lot of his examples that I think will help me in my journalism career.

According to Burwell, it takes an informed opinion to be a successful columnist; you don’t come out of journalist school with an informed opinion. It takes craft building and long years of practice. 

He recommended us to start off as beat reporters and really learn the art of journalism more than anything before we take on the art of column writing.

He also added that you want to know what you’re talking about. And it makes sense because there isn’t any point to me covering a sport like water polo if I don’t know anything about the sport.

One of the most important things that I learned is that you got to have courage in order to make it into the columnist business, because people are always going to have something to say and they are going to try to intimidate you. 

The intimidation factor is strong, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and the readers won’t hold back. You can’t worry about what they say or let them form an opinion for you. 

Then you wouldn’t be protecting the most important part of your job, your craft and informed opinion. 

You can’t we a wuss, “have a straight and strong spine,” as Burwell said. Be right, not fair.