Reporters and Correspondents

$41.26K Median Salary 3.7K Job Openings (Annual Projection) -10.1% Job Growth

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About This Career

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

Reported Job Titles

Anchor, General Assignment Reporter, News Director, News Reporter, Reporter, Sports Writer, Staff Writer, Television News Anchor (TV News Anchor), Television News Reporter, Television Reporter (TV Reporter)

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Skills You'll Need

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Abilities

Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
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 Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
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.
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
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.
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).
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.

Knowledge

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.
Telecommunications: Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.

Skills

Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
Writing: Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
Social Perceptiveness: Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Active Learning: Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Time Management: Managing one's own time and the time of others.
Complex Problem Solving: Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Judgment and Decision Making: Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Persuasion: Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
Coordination: Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
Negotiation: Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.

Technology Skills

Video creation and editing software: YouTube
Data base user interface and query software: Data entry software; Database management software; Microsoft Access; Relational database software
Desktop publishing software: Microsoft Publisher
Analytical or scientific software: Computer modeling software; HATPRO; SAS; Statistical software
Map creation software: ESRI ArcGIS software; ESRI ArcView; Geographic information system GIS software
Web page creation and editing software: Facebook; LinkedIn
Instant messaging software: Atlassian HipChat
Object oriented data base management software: Hibernate ORM; PostgreSQL
Office suite software: Corel WordPerfect; Microsoft Office
Word processing software: Microsoft Word
Spreadsheet software: IBM Lotus 1-2-3; Microsoft Excel
Internet browser software: Web browser software
Presentation software: Microsoft PowerPoint
Web platform development software: Microsoft Active Server Pages ASP
Information retrieval or search software: DOC Cop; iParadigms Turnitin

Tools

Digital camcorders or video cameras: Tree top peeper and video probe systems
Satellite core equipment: Mobile broadcast units
Mobile phones: Smart phones
Notebook computers:
Digital cameras:
Video editors: Digital video effects units; Linear editing systems; Non-linear editing systems; Vision mixers
Digital audio workstation DAW: Digital audio workstations
Special purpose telephones: Multi-line telephone systems
Laser fax machine: Laser facsimile machines
Microphones: Handheld microphones; Wireless microphones
Desktop computers:
Personal computers:

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