News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists
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.
- Median pay
- $62,200
- Doing it now
- 47,100
- By 2035
- Down 5.9%
- Usually needs
- Bachelor's degree
a year
across the country
3,400 openings a year
to get in
What the work involves
- Write commentaries, columns, or scripts, using computers.
- Coordinate and serve as an anchor on news broadcast programs.
- Examine news items of local, national, and international significance to determine topics to address, or obtain assignments from editorial staff members.
- Analyze and interpret news and information received from various sources to broadcast the information.
- Receive assignments or evaluate leads or tips to develop story ideas.
- Research a story's background information to provide complete and accurate information.
- Arrange interviews with people who can provide information about a story.
What to study
The fields of study the Department of Education links to this occupation, most widely taught first.
- Communication and Media StudiesSee 1,139 colleges that teach it
- Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied CommunicationSee 470 colleges that teach it
- JournalismSee 409 colleges that teach it
- Radio, Television, and Digital CommunicationSee 405 colleges that teach it
Who it suits
O*NET scores every occupation on six interest dimensions. This one leans hardest on these three.
Creative and expressive
Analytical and curious
Leading and persuading
Careers like this one
Where this comes from: the description and the task list are O*NET, which the Department of Labor maintains. Pay, workforce size, outlook and the education normally needed are the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections programme, 2025 wages and 2025 to 2035 projections. Half of them earn more than $62,200 a year, which means half earn less, and what you would earn depends on where you work and how long you have been doing it. The fields of study come from the National Center for Education Statistics crosswalk.