A Portrait of the Reporter

About the Book

A Portrait of the Reporter (Autoportret reportera) is a collection of Ryszard Kapuściński’s statements — fragments of interviews, lectures, conversations and essays — selected and arranged by Krystyna Strączek and published in 2003. Although it is not a book written “from beginning to end,” it forms a coherent, personal account by the author of his own profession, craft and ethics of reportage.

In it Kapuściński defines the reporter as far more than someone who merely reports facts. He is a witness to history and a mediator between cultures, whose work has a moral and political dimension. The author repeatedly stresses that “this profession requires character,” and that only a good person — sensitive, honest and present where something important is happening — can be a good reporter. He writes about responsibility towards the word, the temptation of manipulation, and why truth is the supreme value in journalism.

The book is also a reflection on reportage as an art form, on the border between literature and journalism, and on the role of the media in the contemporary world. It is a kind of credo and a key to understanding the whole of the author’s work — from The Emperor to The Shadow of the Sun. It is reading not only for aspiring journalists, but for anyone who wants to understand how a story about the world is born.

Themes

• The role of the reporter in democracy
• The ethics of journalism
• Responsibility towards language
• Reportage as an art form
• Testimony and truth

Significance

The author’s mission as a guide through reality.

See Also

• A Portrait of the Reporter — Polish editions and ISBN numbers.