Roles

Reporters are at the forefront of the media landscape, but many roles in a newsroom contribute to the journalistic process:

• Reporters — Within a news organization, reporters are usually hired to cover a specified subject or topic (“beat”). These coverage areas can be broad (such as business) or detailed (such as Uber and the gig economy), depending on the needs of the newsroom and its audience. Once assigned a story, a reporter researches the topic, speaks to all necessary sources or subject matter experts to gather information, and writes the story. They then submit it to an editor, whose deadlines they are typically expected to follow.

Note: Reporters are often full-time staff. A freelance reporter does not work full-time for a newsroom but is equally responsible for following journalistic ethics and the expectations of the newsroom where they are freelancing.

• Editors — Editors are typically tasked with story organization and planning, and often oversee a group of reporters within one topic area. Editors work with reporters to identify coverage areas and sources, and help keep them on track to meet their deadlines. Editors clean up reporters’ writing, address any issues that arise, and ensure a story is comprehensively reported before it is published.

Note: Whistleblowers should expect that any information told to a reporter will be shared with their editor.

• Copy editors or fact-checkers — Once a story is written and polished for publication, some newsrooms pass it to a copy editor or fact-checker, who eliminates any remaining writing errors, addresses areas of confusion, and corrects factual mistakes. Copy editors are usually kept separate from matters of gathering information or reporting, and are not typically informed of the identity of an anonymous source.
• Sources — These are the people providing information to a journalist, whether in person or by phone, messaging, records/documents, or through other means.