You might catch a politician with his pants down but you'll never catch a journalist without a ballpoint pen.
For journalists, ballpoint pens are as valuable as reporter's notebooks and press passes.It is for this reason that
journalists latch onto ballpoint pens like squirrels onto nuts.
Without their ballpoint pens, reporters are rendered useless and
feel as vulnerable as they do without fedoras.
However, not all ballpoint pens are created equal. Ask any
journalist and they will tell you a classic Bic Clic Stic pen is their weapon
of choice.
The iconic pen is durable, versatile, doesn’t smear and permits
reporters to authoritatively click it, indicating to all who may have missed
their press pass that they are a hard working journalist.
At any given time, a journalist will have anywhere from two to 5 10 20 ballpoint pens on their person, as well as dozens or so squirreled
away in various drawers, glove boxes, purses and brief cases.This isn’t so much
because journalists are afraid of being caught without their trusty writing
instrument so much as it is because such pens are becoming a rare commodity in
the modern day newsroom.
As atrophying newspapers look to cut costs in every corner of the
newsroom, the supply closet is no exception.
While a single Bic Clic Stic pen costs 27 cents, a Bic Round Stic
pen is only 23 cents and as a result of the four cent savings, reporters are
relegated to click-free pens that just don’t perform as well.
So be it a sweaty hot town hall or a fancy state dinner, wherever
a journalist is, he or she is nearly guaranteed to have a ballpoint pen. Except
when it snows. Pens don’t work in snow.
Thanks to @lindzimae for the photo.
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I’m more of a rolling ball pen kind of guy… but, yeah, Bics are all we have at work.
Actually, any reporter in the far North will tell you to keep your pens in the inside pocket of your parka, (next to your camera and extra batteries) and they will work to about -10C. After that, northern journos use the trusty pencil.
I prefer the mechanical pencil. It’s an all-weather device and it’s always sharp. It’s also easy to carry a month’s supply of lead in my bag.
ok, i have to weigh in here. I prefer a parker jotter body with spacepen ballpoint ink cartridge. I carry two at all times and a spare third cheapo throw away ballpoint to lend out to grieving family members, other reporters or some other person I am trying to get info out of.
just to clarify: spacepens write in cold, rain, wind and underwater. it is like god was listening to some poor reporters prayers when he dropped the idea in the inventors head.
I prefer free pens. They’re like the world’s way of rewarding you for having to go some stupid conference or speech or something…that promotional table is just sitting there, laden down with free ink. I swipe at least five in a go, if they are the clicky kind, which they usually are.
My office only carries the tremendously cheap stick pens, and I hate them, so it’s free click pens for me, or I end up buying my own.
My favorite pen, by far, is the Pentel RSVP. Rubber grip, smooth ink flow, never gets stuck, waterproof and archival quality. I love that pen more than bacon or unicorns.
I have to agree with JD on this one. Gimme pens are about the best kind out there for taking notes. We hit the business and industry shows, collecting a couple bags of free pens and stickie notes on each pass. The clicky kind are much better than the round sticks, which bleed ink all over your notes, hands and pockets.
But our cubs have taken to using digital recorders for their notes, which work great until the batteries go dead, an event that happens about every other interview / meeting. Myself, I don’t trust them, and still use a freebie pen and reporter’s pad for notes. For 20 years, they haven’t let me down!
Count another one in JD’s camp. In addition to being free, they are also very often clicky and don’t leak all over your hands.
I went to an event and a high school kid said, “I just have to say I have the same pen.” I told him this was my favorite pen EVER because it fit conveniently into the spiral of my reporter’s notebook. Can’t beat a pen that is so easy to find.
Back in 77 or thereabouts, I was vacationing in the Midwest when a hurricane stared brewing up near Florida. I’d check in with the office every day and they’d say, “Don’t worry about it. It’s gonna miss.” Then, one Sunday morning, they said, “Better saddle up your pony.”
I drove 19 straight hours and arrived at 2 A.M. to try to button down my house. When I ran up the stairs to the news room, I spotted a Parker Papermate ballpoint pen on the floor and scooped it up.
I loved that pen. I used it for everything. It was the one pen I never loaned anybody and it was the only one I never lost nor misplaced.
Until, that is, I went to the Mississippi Gulf Coast to cover Hurricane Elena in 1985. Somewhere on that trip, my precious pen slipped out of the fireman’s bunker coat I was wearing.
The hurricane gods give, the hurricane gods take away.
Maybe it’s the romanticism of the Redford film, but I truly feel felt-tipped pens. Why? Dunno. I will say my handwriting’s prettiness has fallen into a chasm because of quick-jot journalism. Ballpoint pens make my writing even uglier. Felt-tipped tools salvage, eh, a little bit of my hand’s dignity. Because that’s what it’s all about: pretty note-taking. But whatever.
Nice, but these pens melt in the heat. I know, I have had many an ink stained pocket because of this.
I still remember the first time I was covering a tragic fire outside in the bitter cold. Not only were my toes freezing, but the darn pen would not work while I was interviewing the firefighter. I kept trying and scribbling in circles but to no avail. I’m not sure how I was able to write a story. Maybe from the indentations of the pen on the paper???I think we’re all pen obsessed!
My all time favorite are the clicky pens that come FREE at every fair and festival. Bonus is they fit nicely into the spiral of a reporter’s notebook.