Summary Report for:
27-3022.00 - Reporters and Correspondents
Collect and analyze facts about newsworthy events by interview, investigation, or observation. Report and write stories for newspaper, news magazine, radio, or television.
Sample of reported job titles:
Reporter, Anchor, News Reporter, General Assignment Reporter, Television News Anchor (TV News Anchor), Television News Reporter, Television Reporter (TV Reporter), Staff Writer, Sports Writer, News Director
Tasks | Knowledge | Skills | Abilities | Work Activities | Work Context | Job Zone | Interests | Work Styles | Work Values | Related Occupations | Wages & Employment
Tasks
- Report and write news stories for publication or broadcast, describing the background and details of events.
- Arrange interviews with people who can provide information about a particular story.
- Review copy and correct errors in content, grammar, and punctuation, following prescribed editorial style and formatting guidelines.
- Review and evaluate notes taken about event aspects in order to isolate pertinent facts and details.
- Determine a story's emphasis, length, and format, and organize material accordingly.
- Research and analyze background information related to stories in order to be able to provide complete and accurate information.
- Gather information about events through research, interviews, experience, and attendance at political, news, sports, artistic, social, and other functions.
- Investigate breaking news developments such as disasters, crimes, and human interest stories.
- Research and report on specialized fields such as medicine, science and technology, politics, foreign affairs, sports, arts, consumer affairs, business, religion, crime, or education.
- Receive assignments or evaluate leads and tips in order to develop story ideas.
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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. |
| 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. |
| Administration and Management — Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources. |
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Skills
| Writing — Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience. |
| 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. |
| Time Management — Managing one's own time and the time of others. |
| Critical Thinking — Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems. |
| Speaking — Talking to others to convey information effectively. |
| Active Learning — Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making. |
| Social Perceptiveness — Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do. |
| 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. |
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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. |
| Speech Recognition — The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person. |
| Inductive Reasoning — The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events). |
| Near Vision — The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer). |
| 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). |
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Work Activities
| Getting Information — Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources. |
| Communicating with Persons Outside 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. |
| Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others — Translating or explaining what information means and how it can be used. |
| Thinking Creatively — Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions. |
| Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events — Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events. |
| Interacting With Computers — Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information. |
| Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships — Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time. |
| 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. |
| Documenting/Recording Information — Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form. |
| Processing Information — Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data. |
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Work Context
| Telephone — How often do you have telephone conversations in this job? |
| Contact With Others — How much does this job require the worker to be in contact with others (face-to-face, by telephone, or otherwise) in order to perform it? |
| Electronic Mail — How often do you use electronic mail in this job? |
| Face-to-Face Discussions — How often do you have to have face-to-face discussions with individuals or teams in this job? |
| Importance of Being Exact or Accurate — How important is being very exact or highly accurate in performing this job? |
| Time Pressure — How often does this job require the worker to meet strict deadlines? |
| Work With Work Group or Team — How important is it to work with others in a group or team in this job? |
| Frequency of Decision Making — How frequently is the worker required to make decisions that affect other people, the financial resources, and/or the image and reputation of the organization? |
| Indoors, Environmentally Controlled — How often does this job require working indoors in environmentally controlled conditions? |
| Freedom to Make Decisions — How much decision making freedom, without supervision, does the job offer? |
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Job Zone
| Title |
Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed |
| Overall Experience |
A minimum of two to four years 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 accountants, human resource managers, computer programmers, teachers, chemists, and police detectives. |
| SVP Range |
(7.0 to < 8.0) |
| Education |
Most of these occupations require a four - year bachelor's degree, but some do not. |
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Interests
Interest code: AIE
| Artistic — Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules. |
| Investigative — Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally. |
| Enterprising — Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business. |
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Work Styles
| Attention to Detail — Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks. |
| Initiative — Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges. |
| Dependability — Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations. |
| Persistence — Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles. |
| Integrity — Job requires being honest and ethical. |
| Stress Tolerance — Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations. |
| Achievement/Effort — Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks. |
| Adaptability/Flexibility — Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace. |
| Independence — Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done. |
| Self Control — Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations. |
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Work Values
| Achievement — Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. Corresponding needs are Ability Utilization and Achievement. |
| Independence — Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employs to work on their own and make decisions. Corresponding needs are Creativity, Responsibility and Autonomy. |
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Related Occupations
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Wages & Employment Trends
National
| Median wages (2007) |
$16.68 hourly, $34,690 annual |
| Employment (2006) |
59,000 employees |
| Projected growth (2006-2016) |
Little or no change (-2% to 2%)
|
| Projected need (2006-2016) |
19,000 additional employees |
State & National
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics 2007 wage data
and 2006-2016 employment projections
.
"Projected growth" represents the estimated change in total employment over the projections period (2006-2016). "Projected need" represents job openings due to growth and net replacement.
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