Every now and then there's a news article which gets widely praised by other journalists for its "brilliant lede" or other quality writing-with-a-bit-of-flair. Almost every time, my response is, "oh, there's a reporter who doesn't have to play by the rules of other reporters, for reasons." If it's about a serious topic, anyway.
Generally I don't think that "ability to write good" (in that way, at least) is an important skill for good journalism, but some journalists get to color outside the lines a bit and some don't. In many ways. If you're a star they let you do it!
