Reporters


Overview

Introduction

Reporters are the foot soldiers for newspapers, magazines, Internet news organizations, and television and radio broadcast companies. They gather and analyze information about current events and write stories for publication or for broadcasting. Reporters, correspondents, and news analysts hold about 52,000 jobs in the United States.

Quick Facts


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Median Salary

$46,270

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Employment Prospects

Fair

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Minimum Education Level

Bachelors Degree


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Experience

Writing, reporting, and editing experience


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Skills

Public Speaking|Research|Writing


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Personality Traits

Curious|Organized|Outgoing

Earnings

There are great variations in the earnings of reporters. Salaries are related to experience, the type of employer for which the reporter works, geographic location, and whether the reporter is covered by a contract negotiated by the Newspaper Guild.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for news analysts, reporters, and correspondents was $46,270 in May 2019...

Work Environment

Reporters work under a great deal of pressure in settings that differ from the typical business office. Their jobs generally require a five-day, 35- to 40-hour week, but overtime and irregular schedules are very common. Reporters employed by morning papers start work in the late afternoon and finish around midnight, while those on afternoon or evening papers start early in the morning and work ...

Outlook

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) reports that employment for newspaper and magazine reporters and correspondents is expected to decline rapidly through 2029 because of mergers, consolidations, and closures in the newspaper and magazine industries, as well as declining advertising revenue.

"Declining revenue will force news organizations to downsize and employ fewer journalists," the DO...