Example Career: Reporters and Correspondents

Career Description

Collect and analyze facts about newsworthy events by interview, investigation, or observation. Report and write stories for newspaper, news magazine, radio, or television.

What Job Titles Reporters and Correspondents Might Have

• Anchor
• News Reporter
• Reporter
• Staff Writer

What Reporters and Correspondents Do

• Receive assignments or evaluate leads or tips to develop story ideas.
• Research a story's background information to provide complete and accurate information.
• Arrange interviews with people who can provide information about a story.
• Establish and maintain relationships with individuals who are credible sources of information.
• Report news stories for publication or broadcast, describing the background and details of events.
• Gather information about events through research, interviews, experience, or attendance at political, news, sports, artistic, social, or other functions.
• Revise work to meet editorial approval or to fit time or space requirements.
• Review and evaluate notes taken about news events to isolate pertinent facts and details.
• Investigate breaking news developments, such as disasters, crimes, or human-interest stories.
• Review written, audio, or video copy and correct errors in content, grammar, or punctuation, following prescribed editorial style and formatting guidelines.
• Report on specialized fields such as medicine, green technology, environmental issues, science, politics, sports, arts, consumer affairs, business, religion, crime, or education.
• Determine a published or broadcasted story's emphasis, length, and format and organize material accordingly.
• Transmit news stories or reporting information from remote locations, using equipment such as satellite phones, telephones, fax machines, or modems.
• Check reference materials, such as books, news files, or public records, to obtain relevant facts.
• Discuss issues with editors to establish priorities or positions.
• Photograph or videotape news events.
• Take pictures or video and process them for inclusion in a story.
• Present live or recorded commentary via broadcast media.
• Conduct taped or filmed interviews or narratives.
• Develop ideas or material for columns or commentaries by analyzing and interpreting news, current issues, or personal experiences.
• Communicate with readers, viewers, advertisers, or the general public via mail, email, or telephone.
• Write online blog entries that address news developments or offer additional information, opinions, or commentary on news events.
• Assign stories to other reporters or duties to production staff.
• Write columns, editorials, commentaries, or reviews that interpret events or offer opinions.
• Edit or assist in editing videos for broadcast.

What Reporters and Correspondents Should Be Good At

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

What Reporters and Correspondents Need to Learn

• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
• Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.