4.1: Journalistic Roles in Newsrooms

In the evolving world of news, many journalists find they need additional skills to do the job that is expected of them. They often fulfil many roles. Journalists may be expected to shoot photographs for use on the internet in addition to interviewing sources and writing stories for the newspaper. Sub-editors may be asked to post stories on the internet in addition to checking journalists’ copy and writing headlines. Photographers may need to shoot video as well as still pictures, and they may also have to provide text to go along with their pictures. Many news organisations provide training for journalists who take on new roles in the newsroom. Also, journalism educators are helping students learn the multiple skills they may need in the future. In the newsrooms of the digital era, there are now some roles that focus on producing interactive content for online consumption, producing visual stories and infographics, and roles that focus on engaging with readers via social media. These roles include social media editors, digital editors, digital producers, and videographers. This is true for all types of newsrooms, whether TV, radio, online, or newspapers.

Almost all journalistic roles now include some form of digital news production, either in combination with existing tasks (such as writing for a newspaper), or exclusively digitally (such as when you work for a news website and do all your work for online consumption only). This is increasingly what most journalists who formerly specialised in print do – they create content for online publication first and sometimes do additional work for print. Radio and television journalists often work for their specific platform first, and then do additional work for online platforms, such as engaging on social media or creating podcasts or short videos of their shows.

Despite the many changes in roles and responsibilities, it is still possible to identify some important journalistic roles that can usually be found in most newsrooms, from converged newsrooms to broadcast newsrooms. There are some differences in what these roles are called in different types of newsrooms, but many of the functions these journalists perform share some similarities. Of course, in smaller newsrooms, there will be far fewer of these roles.

• An editor-in-chief (in South Africa often simply called an editor) is the journalist who oversees the entire news outlet. This person is the public face of the outlet, makes sure that the outlet maintains high standards and does not break the law, often writes the editorial (which shows the views of the publication on important issues), and manages finances in the newsroom.
• A department manager/editor is at the head of a specific department, such as the business desk, or the news desk.
• A news editor is a person in any type of newsroom (whether online, print or broadcast) who manages the daily news diary (or news list, a list of stories for the day) and who manages the team of journalists. The news editor assigns stories to young journalists (experienced journalists will often find their own stories) and who informs the production team about the stories they can expect for the day, for broadcast or publication. In broadcast newsrooms, the news editor is called a news director. The name news editor is well-established in newsrooms, although some people might prefer to call this role assignment editor. But news editor is universally understood as the person who assigns stories to journalists and creates and manages the daily news diary.
• A journalist identifies news, finds stories, does research and verifies the information, and then writes stories for print, online distribution, or broadcasting.
• A multimedia journalist is like a journalist, but their work involves creating news stories that can be told on a variety of platforms. For example, a multimedia journalist might write a story for use online, take pictures to go with the story, create a video that adds additional details to the story – this can be uploaded to the news outlet’s YouTube channel – and may also create a podcast to be distributed on audio channels. They can also create information graphics and other types of stories, such as social media posts. Most journalists – whether they work for print, online, or broadcast – are now multimedia journalists.
• A sub-editor is a person who checks and corrects stories before publication (for online or print use). Sub-editors (also called copy editors) are content quality controllers; they check and correct stories after they have been written or put together to make sure the correct language was used and to make sure there are no factual or other errors. They often write or check headlines, or create blurbs (a short promotion to attract people to a story). In the digital era, journalists often copy-edit their own stories – a huge responsibility. Sub-editors do not play the same role as editors; sub editors are only concerned with the quality and factual correctness of content. Producers do the work of sub-editors and can also work in broadcasting newsrooms.
• A photo editor is the person who finds and sometimes edits visual content for the organisation. The role is somewhat like that of the news editor; it just focusses on pictures and visuals instead of story content.
• A photographer takes pictures. In the past, many mass-media companies had dedicated photographers whose only function was to take pictures, but in the digital era, many journalists now take pictures as part of their jobs, often using their mobile phones. They also create videos.
• A layout designer/artist uses layout software to create the layout for the printed paper. In an online environment, there are often templates – this means it is not necessary to create a new page design every day. News stories are uploaded to a content management system and then published inside an existing design.
• An art director is responsible for the visual appearance of a publication. Often, publications only have a photo editor who plays the same role.
• An infographic journalist creates infographics for the publication. Now, journalists often create infographics themselves.
• A radio/audio or TV journalist does the same work as a journalist, but they produce their stories as television clips, radio clips, video clips, or podcasts. These clips can include interviews and audio or video content of the story.
• A radio or TV presenter is different to a radio or TV journalist. Presenters present a show, hosting a discussion or an interview, while radio or TV journalists actually find and compile the news stories as audio or video clips. Presenters also introduce video or audio clips. In the past, the faces of radio presenters were not visible to listeners, but increasingly, some radio stations also livestream shows on YouTube or on their websites, which means the distinction between TV (where faces have always been visible) and radio is fading in some cases.
• A news anchor appears on radio, television, or online television to read the news from prepared news bulletins written by journalists.
• A producer works in the broadcast environment and is usually responsible for managing and coordinating a specific sector of media; for example, a business producer may work on putting together clips for the business section of the publication.
• A camera operator works in broadcast newsrooms and is responsible for setting up cameras and shooting scenes. A camera crew usually assists the camera operator.
• A grip is someone who looks after the camera equipment in a broadcast newsroom.
• A sound or lighting technician has specialised skills to create good-quality sound and audio in audio and video news or to ensure that lighting in newscasts and videos is good.

New roles in journalism are constantly developing, and some roles are changing.