How to understand Pulitzer's famous saying that journalists are watchmen?

A reporter is a person who lights the torch and illuminates the truth. When we are still ignorant in chaos, there is always a pen, a page and a lens to convey information. The case of Sun Zhigang in Guangzhou, with the attention of the media and academic circles, has become the thrust to rewrite a law; Sanlu milk powder incident, the reporter's interrogation of dairy industry and food safety, promoted the maturity of related industries; However, because college students drowned to save people for help, they encountered the report of "salvaging bodies at sky-high prices", which made us angry at the slack responsibility of government departments, but also read the indifference of those who killed people without saving people. And all this is presented to us because of the reporter's news gathering and writing.

In fact, we can even say that we live in the world that journalists have walked through-where there is singing, there is turmoil, from the world economy to the human sentiment. It is the reporter's report that tells us the true story that is being staged in the space beyond our vision, and it is the small news that constitutes our perception of the big world.

It is precisely because of this that it is even more important to be a good "bow keeper". Huang Yuansheng, a famous journalist in the early years of the Republic of China, once concluded that journalists should have "four abilities"-thinking, running, listening and writing. In fact, a good reporter should have far more than these "four abilities". First of all, he should be an upright person, not afraid of power and money, and dare to make a living for the people, instead of losing his professional ethics under the "hush money". He is also a saint, a knowledgeable person, as logical as a lawyer, and as thorough as a detective. He also has to understand philosophy and gain insight into life through events. All this must be based on the fact that he has a healthy body, can bear hardships and can run around, because the sudden news determines that the reporter is "either collecting news or on the way to collecting news".

Perhaps, Liu Yong said better, "A warm heart, a pair of cold eyes, a pair of diligent hands, a busy two legs, a free spiritual realm", we all need such a life rule.