Some readers are convinced that certain reporters at the New York Times are motivated solely by partisan politics … reporters and editors … are not motivated by a devotion to any political party or cause.The public editor of the New York Times,
Byron Calame, has been figuring out what makes reporters tick. With nearly forty years in the business, Byron is either a dinosaur or a seer. You can make up your own mind. Here’s his seven habits of highly effective newspaper reporters:

1) Being first with new facts or fresh insights.
2) Pursuing stories that can have impact.
3) Winning prizes.
4) Impressing sources.
5) Figuring out what’s really happening.
6) Telling stories in a compelling way.
7) Getting on the front page.

Hmmm. There’s a formula in there somewhere: quantification plus stating the obvious divided by your own personal opinion and some of your mates. Multiply it by a misplaced sense of the seriousness of your conclusions and, yes Byron, you are a dino-seer.