Sound advice

Seminar lecturers gave us some wonderful nuggets of knowledge to use while reporting and editing. Feel free to list more. Here are a few:

-Get an ethical structure.
-Learn new...I mean, multimedia.
-Learn a new language.
-Focus on people, not just ideas.
-Learn cop-shop reporting as a starting point.
-Write to people's tastes to get attention.
-Don't sleep through lectures, or Kevin will bust you.
-Get a second source of income-- TV appearances, a book, freelancing, etc.
-Don't get caught up in pack journalism.
-Use scene pieces to set your writing apart. (Show, don't tell.)
-The best opinion pieces are REPORTED. Use the facts to convince people.
-Always use multiple sources.
-Read all the time. No wait, write all the time. Hmm.
-Keep it short and simple. (I call this K.I.S.S.-- Keep it simple stupid.)
-Either there is risk, or there is BANANA, contrary to popular cartoon antics, which depict the presence of a banana as a risk. (Refresher: BANANA is Build Absolutely Nothing Anytime Nor Anywhere.)
-Always ask about the consequences, both foreseen and unforeseen.
-Read the paper by looking at page A2 first. That's where the corrections are made.
-Compare risks to other problems in society to evaluate their relative seriousness.
-Be edgy/provocative/interesting.
-In editorials, give the moral argument. Then, give the "value-added" argument.
-Have editorial discussions in a hall or bathroom to avoid FOI requests.
-Look out for false logic and bad statistics.
-You gotta be cruel to be kind. (Machiavelli)
-Think critically about definitions and assumptions and include that in your story.
-Report numbers in context.
-Correlation does NOT equal causation. (If you didn't get that one by now, shame on you.)
-Write your own counter-narrative in response to misleading media narratives.
-Pitches should be clear and direct.
-Cut words till you can't cut no mo'.
-It's okay to cry.
-Don't just sit in an office for an interview. Take your subject to a place they usually go, or ask them to talk while they do something they usually do.
-Write vignettes of people you see.
-Ask, "And what happened next?"

That's more than a few. Forgive me? Whatever. You know you liked it. Add more.