Damn... she thick!

If any of you ever get the chance to become a journalist, I can recommend acquiring one thing above all others. Not amazing writing ability (useful, but not necessary). Not incredibly probing interviewing skills (preferable, but you can get away without them). No, you need one thing.

A thick skin. It's very, very useful. Because people? Are mean.

My fellow blogger and cricket enthusiast Miss Field is experiencing this at the moment. To cut a long story short, Miss Field has blogged, passionately, about cricket for a long time. Cricket Australia decided to bring in a female-written blog on its site. Inevitably, they turned to... two rugby league fans (it seems New South Welshmen get selected first everywhere). Anyway, these two girls wrote an introduction about themselves, and got started blogging. Miss Field wrote a strongly-worded critique of them, their knowledge of cricket, and their suitability as cricket bloggers. The response? So far, 65 comments, ranging from support for Miss Field, to 'why can't we all get along?', to personal attacks.

Sooooo.... pretty par for the course for opinion pieces. My favourite insult so far has been the one comparing her brother to Josef Fritzl. Anonymity + strong opinion = ridiculous statements.

Like I said at the start, you need a thick skin to be a journo. Miss Field has experience in this area, and I'm sure she'll be fine. If you write your opinions, you've got to be prepared to take the flak. Usually from people who would be too scared to write their own opinion, but are happy to bag yours.

I've copped some great insults over my time. My favourites included being labelled "an oxygen theif", told I "couldn't write for s***" and the time I was called "an absolute goose" who knew nothing about sport and was outshone by my staff all year. Those ones were just over the internet and email.

There was also the time I was kicked out of one of a football changeroom after a match, the time a coach spent most of his postmatch address attacking my coverage of the buildup to a game, and the many, many times I've had abusive phone calls. Ooohh, and the time a guy told me I was about to get him sacked for quoting him in a story.

Basically, if you want to be a journo for any length of time, you have to develop a thick skin. And honestly? I'm glad I did. Because words don't affect me nearly as much as they used to. Because I realised something. People are idiots. And they don't understand the media. And they don't understand why one thing is interesting and another thing isn't. And they think that their opinion on this issue matters. And they're prepared to say some mean words if they don't get their way.

And.... and all of that doesn't affect me. If I've done the wrong thing, sure, I will apologise and do what I can to make it right. But if all I've done is expose something that someone else didn't want exposed, well... it's not my fault that you're copping flak for your actions. If you didn't want people to find out about them, why did you do it?

If you get a chance to develop a thick skin, I highly recommend it. It will help you in every area of life. You will feel less stressed, happier, and better prepared to take on anything thrown at you. Because words don't hurt. Swords hurt.

So to Miss Field, and the rugby league fans, good luck. Develop a thick skin and everything will be much, much easier.