News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists
27-3023.00
Updated 2026

Narrate or write news stories, reviews, or commentary for print, broadcast, or other communications media such as newspapers, magazines, radio, or television. May collect and analyze information through interview, investigation, or observation.

Sample of reported job titles: Anchor, Journalist, Multimedia Journalist, News Anchor, News Reporter, Reporter, Staff Writer, TV News Anchor (Television News Anchor), TV News Reporter (Television News Reporter), TV Reporter (Television Reporter)

Occupation-Specific Information

Tasks

  • Report news stories for publication or broadcast, describing the background and details of events.
  • Gather information and develop perspectives about news subjects through research, interviews, observation, and experience.
  • 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.
  • Investigate breaking news developments, such as disasters, crimes, or human-interest stories.
  • Select material most pertinent to presentation, and organize this material into appropriate formats.
  • Report on specialized fields such as medicine, green technology, environmental issues, science, politics, sports, arts, consumer affairs, business, religion, crime, or education.
  • Review and evaluate notes taken about news events to isolate pertinent facts and details.
  • Receive assignments or evaluate leads or tips to develop story ideas.
  • Check reference materials, such as books, news files, or public records, to obtain relevant facts.
  • Determine a published or broadcasted story's emphasis, length, and format, organizing material accordingly.
  • Examine news items of local, national, and international significance to determine topics to address, or obtain assignments from editorial staff members.
  • Take pictures or video, and process them for inclusion in a story.
  • Review written, audio, or video copy, and correct errors in content, grammar, or punctuation, following prescribed editorial style and formatting guidelines.
  • Write commentaries, columns, or scripts, using computers.
  • Analyze and interpret news and information received from various sources to broadcast the information.
  • Conduct taped or filmed interviews or narratives.
  • Revise work to meet editorial approval or to fit time or space requirements.
  • Develop ideas or material for columns or commentaries by analyzing and interpreting news, current issues, or personal experiences.
  • Transmit news stories or reporting information from remote locations, using equipment such as satellite phones, telephones, fax machines, or modems.
  • Discuss issues with editors to establish priorities or positions.
  • Communicate with readers, viewers, advertisers, or the general public via mail, email, or telephone.
  • Photograph or videotape news events.
  • Write online blog entries that address news developments or offer additional information, opinions, or commentary on news events.
  • Write columns, editorials, commentaries, or reviews that interpret events or offer opinions.
  • Present live or recorded commentary via broadcast media.
  • Coordinate and serve as an anchor on news broadcast programs.
  • Present news stories, and introduce in-depth videotaped segments or live transmissions from on-the-scene reporters.
  • Assign stories to other reporters or duties to production staff.
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Occupational Requirements

Work Activities

  • Getting Information — Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
  • Processing Information — Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data.
  • Communicating with People Outside the Organization — Communicating with people outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the public, government, and other external sources. This information can be exchanged in person, in writing, or by telephone or e-mail.
  • Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events — Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
  • Working with Computers — Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information.
  • Thinking Creatively — Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.
  • Analyzing Data or Information — Identifying the underlying principles, reasons, or facts of information by breaking down information or data into separate parts.
  • Documenting/Recording Information — Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
  • Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships — Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
  • Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others — Translating or explaining what information means and how it can be used.
  • Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates — Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
  • Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work — Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
  • Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge — Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.
  • Performing for or Working Directly with the Public — Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests.
  • Making Decisions and Solving Problems — Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
  • Scheduling Work and Activities — Scheduling events, programs, and activities, as well as the work of others.
  • Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings — Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.
  • Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards — Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.
  • Judging the Qualities of Objects, Services, or People — Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people.

Detailed Work Activities

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Work Context

  • Importance of Being Exact or Accurate — 89% responded “Extremely important.”
  • Indoors, Environmentally Controlled — 89% responded “Every day.”
  • E-Mail — 84% responded “Every day.”
  • Time Pressure — 75% responded “Every day.”
  • Contact With Others — 68% responded “Constant contact with others.”
  • Determine Tasks, Priorities and Goals — 71% responded “A lot of freedom.”
  • Telephone Conversations — 76% responded “Every day.”
  • Freedom to Make Decisions — 59% responded “A lot of freedom.”
  • Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams — 49% responded “Every day.”
  • Work With or Contribute to a Work Group or Team — 58% responded “Extremely important.”
  • Spend Time Sitting — 37% responded “Continually or almost continually.”
  • Deal With External Customers or the Public in General — 49% responded “Extremely important.”
  • Frequency of Decision Making — 45% responded “Every day.”
  • Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results — 49% responded “Important results.”
  • Importance of Repeating Same Tasks — 30% responded “Extremely important.”
  • Level of Competition — 30% responded “Extremely competitive.”
  • Duration of Typical Work Week — 46% responded “More than 40 hours.”
  • In an Enclosed Vehicle or Operate Enclosed Equipment — 35% responded “Never.”

Experience Requirements

Job Zone

Title
Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
Education
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Related Experience
A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
Job Training
Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.
Job Zone Examples
Many of these occupations involve coordinating, supervising, managing, or training others. Examples include real estate brokers, sales managers, database administrators, graphic designers, conservation scientists, art directors, and cost estimators.
SVP Range
(7.0 to < 8.0)

Training & Credentials

State training
Local training
Certifications
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Apprenticeship Opportunities

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Worker Requirements

Software Skills

Hot Technologies are requirements most frequently included across all employer job postings.

Essential 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.
  • 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.
  • Writing — Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
  • Active Learning — Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
  • Monitoring — Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

Transferable Skills

  • Social Perceptiveness — Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
  • 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.
  • Coordination — Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
  • 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.

Knowledge

  • English Language — Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and 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.
  • Computers and Electronics — Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
  • Telecommunications — Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
  • Customer and Personal Service — Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

Education

How much education does a new hire need to perform a job in this occupation? Respondents said:

  • 84%
     
    Bachelor’s degree required
  • 15%
     
    High school diploma or equivalent required
  • 1%
     
    Associate’s degree or other 2-year degree required

Worker Characteristics

Abilities

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Deductive Reasoning — The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Inductive Reasoning — The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Speech Clarity — The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • 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).
  • 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 that there is a problem.
  • 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).
  • Category Flexibility — The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Flexibility of Closure — The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Selective Attention — The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.

Interests

Interest code: AIE
Want to discover your interests? Take the O*NET Interest Profiler.
  • Artistic — Work involves creating original visual artwork, performances, written works, food, or music for a variety of media, or applying artistic principles to the design of various objects and materials. Artistic occupations are often associated with visual arts, applied arts and design, performing arts, music, creative writing, media, or culinary art.
    • Media — Work involves producing, developing, writing, directing, or presenting information through print, radio, television, or digital media.
    • Creative Writing — Work involves developing creative written works, such as novels, scripts, song lyrics, poetry, stories, or advertisements.
  • Investigative — Work involves studying and researching non-living objects, living organisms, disease or other forms of impairment, or human behavior. Investigative occupations are often associated with physical, life, medical, or social sciences, and can be found in the fields of humanities, mathematics/statistics, information technology, or health care service.
  • Enterprising — Work involves managing, negotiating, marketing, or selling, typically in a business setting, or leading or advising people in political and legal situations. Enterprising occupations are often associated with business initiatives, sales, marketing/advertising, finance, management/administration, professional advising, public speaking, politics, or law.
    • Public Speaking — Work involves speaking before an audience to educate, entertain, or influence the listeners.
    • Politics — Work involves engaging in political activities to influence government policy.

Work Styles

  • Initiative — A tendency to be proactive and take on extra responsibilities and tasks that may fall outside of one's required work role.
  • Adaptability — A tendency to be open to and comfortable with change, new experiences, or ideas at work.
  • Innovation — A tendency to be inventive, to be imaginative, and to adopt new perspectives on ways to accomplish work.
  • Social Orientation — A tendency to seek out, enjoy, and be energized by social interaction at work.
  • Achievement Orientation — A tendency to establish and maintain personally challenging work-related goals, set high work-related standards, and exert high effort toward meeting those goals and standards.
  • Intellectual Curiosity — A tendency to seek out and acquire new work-related knowledge and obtain a deep understanding of work-related subjects.
  • Integrity — A tendency to be honest and ethical at work.
  • Dependability — A tendency to be reliable, responsible, and consistent in meeting work-related obligations.

Workforce Characteristics

Wages & Employment Trends

Median wages (2025)
$29.91 hourly, $62,200 annual
State wages
Local wages
Employment (2025)
47,100 employees
Projected growth (2025-2035)
Decline (-1% or lower)
Projected job openings (2025-2035)
3,400
State trends
Top industries (2025)

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics 2025 wage data and 2025-2035 employment projections . “Projected growth” represents the estimated change in total employment over the projections period (2025-2035). “Projected job openings” represent openings due to growth and replacement.

Job Openings on the Web

State job openings
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More Information

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Professional Associations

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