One way to distinguish reporters is that while journalists also comment on news, in the form of editorials or opinions pieces, reporters ideally do not. The primary function of a reporter is to report the news. In fact, it may be the case that the news that they report are often not be sourced or complied by them. They may in fact be sourced by another journalist. This is often what happens on news channels. The journalists often source and compile news, and write news reports that the reporter would then report on live television.
Hence, it can be said that reporters tend to have a narrower scope than a journalists, and often requires a specific skill set. Whereas, being a journalists often requires one to be knowledgeable about all the various aspects of a journalists’ job, such as news sourcing, fact checking, editing, news reporting, writing opinion articles, etc.
Still, it should be noted that these roles are constantly evolving and the definitions are not standard. Hence, the definitions are very subjective and may differ in each person’s understanding of the terms.
Comparison between Reporter and Journalist:
Reporter | Journalist | |
Definition (Oxford Dictionaries) | A person who reports, especially one employed to report news or conduct interviews for the press or broadcasting media. | A person who writes for newspapers, magazines, or news websites or prepares news to be broadcast. |
Type | A type of journalist | Include various types of editors, editorial writers, columnists, and visual journalists, such as photojournalists |
Roles | Researches, writes, and reports on information in order to present in sources, conduct interviews, engage in research, and make reports. | Researches, writes, and reports on information in order to present in sources, conduct interviews, engage in research, and make reports. Additionally, fact-checking, editing, as well as writing opinion pieces on news. |
Reference: Oxford Dictionaries (Reporter and Journalist), Wikipedia, Chron Image Courtesy: clipartall.com, regionaljournalism.ro
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