"He was more than a "reporter" as one person claimed. "

You have to look at that statement in the context and time it was made. I assume you are referring to Bob Dylan's supposed observation of Och's work. While I don't doubt that Dylan said it, I don't think the story has been verified. Supposedly Dylan uttered the words to Ochs in anger after Ochs criticized one of Dylan's "folk rock" songs. This would have been around 1965. The quote from Dylan was "You're not a folksinger, you're a journalist".

At the time, there was a great deal of truth to that statement, and it wasn't necessarily a knock on Ochs work. Ochs was a journalism student and in the early days of his career he actually called himself a "singing journalist" and a "troubadour journalist". He was very much involved with Broadside magazine and he would tell people that he received his inspiration from stories that he read in Newsweek.   Look at the early songs, they are newspaper stories set to music - and that is not a criticism! Because of what he learned as a student, he had a gift to tell a story in short form while getting the facts out and informing his audience.   His first album was "All the News that's Fit to Sing" - a takeoff on the New York Times slogan.   Ochs was proud of his journalistic integrity.

It should also be remembered that Dylan also is on record as saying "I just can't keep up with Phil. And he's getting better and better and better."

It was after the events of 1968 that you could see Och's music changing and moving away from folk and topical songs. Eventually he suffered from writers block which started the dark period of his life.

No doubt about it - he was an amazing songwriter.   Credit should also be given to Bob Gibson, who was a huge influence on Ochs. Gibson wrote that beautiful melody for "Two Many Martyrs".