16 tasks, each one witnessed by the sources that watched the job — and behind every one, a prompt you can use tonight.
You often start by checking email and the news desk Slack or Microsoft Outlook for assignments and breaking news. Mornings can mean transcribing last night’s interviews, researching background in Microsoft Word or Excel, and planning interviews for the day.
Afternoons are field time: photographing or videotaping events, conducting interviews, and transmitting reports from remote locations. Evenings usually involve writing or updating stories, creating broadcast scripts, and coordinating with editors via phone or email.
Expect Microsoft Word for writing, Microsoft Excel for tracking contacts or data, and Microsoft PowerPoint for presentations to editors or producers. Microsoft Outlook is common for email and scheduling.
For online publishing you’ll touch HTML (basic tags) and image tools like Adobe Photoshop for cropping or color-correcting photos. Newsrooms may use other content-management systems, but these names are the usual core.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 39,250 people employed as reporters. The median pay is $62,200 per year. The lowest tenth earn about $36,240, and the top tenth make about $144,140.
Those numbers vary by city, beat (politics, science, sports), and whether you work TV, print, or online. BLS is the source for these figures.
Practice writing short, clear stories in Microsoft Word and get feedback from an editor or teacher; aim for tight ledes and short paragraphs. Read local news every day and copy one story by hand to learn common phrasing and structure.
Work on interview skills: record conversations (with permission), then transcribe them and mark quotable lines. Use tools like Grammarly for drafts, but always check facts and quotes yourself.
Reporters gather facts, conduct interviews, research background, write stories, and often photograph or videotape events. A correspondent is a reporter assigned to a specific region or beat; an anchor primarily reads pre-drafted texts and introduces pre-recorded items on-air.
Reporters spend more time in the field, transmitting reports from remote locations and developing story angles; anchors focus on delivery and coordination with producers.
You can use AI for tasks like generating story ideas, summarizing long interviews, or cleaning up grammar in drafts. Always mark AI use and never rely on it for facts or quotes: verify every fact with original sources, documents, or recorded interviews.
Do not use AI to fabricate quotes or sources. For broadcast, don’t use AI voices for attribution unless the newsroom’s legal team approves. Keep raw audio/video and original documents as proof.
Top skills are interviewing (getting clear, attributable quotes), clear writing under deadline, and basic photo/video skills to shoot and transmit material from the field. Editors expect you to develop story ideas and research background quickly.
Technical skills matter: comfort with Microsoft Word, Outlook, Excel, basic HTML for web posts, and a photo editor like Adobe Photoshop. Show clips, a portfolio, or a simple website with samples.