People who enjoy researching news reports, being on public television or radio, and traveling to new destinations may decide to enter a correspondent position. Correspondent jobs include position titles such as reporters, newscasters, and journalists. These careers can include local, national, or international travel, though most consist of similar duties.
Most correspondents jobs involve tight deadlines, information gathering, and communicating news to the public. Newscaster jobs typically require preparing news stories before broadcasting them to an audience, usually via television or radio. Newscasters, or reporters, may cover local, national, or international events, issues, or special interest stories.
Local correspondent jobs require little travel. These correspondents usually cover happenings, crime, accidents, weather, political assemblies, and issues happening in a relatively small network, such as a town or metropolitan area. Of all the correspondent jobs, local reporters usually have the most regular hours.
Hours, travel, and overtime can be extensive for national, and especially international, correspondent jobs. These positions often require the worker to travel where the news is happening, typically by a news van or airplane, to cover important breaking news stories. Notice for such occurrences is typically quite short, requiring these individuals to be prepared to leave the city or country at any time.
While smaller networks often keep general assignment correspondents on hand to cover all news, larger ones hire specialized reporters who are seasoned in specific areas. Sportscasters are correspondents who may attend sporting activities at the local, national, or international levels in order to share information about the latest sporting events. Correspondent jobs that involve the weather are known as weathercaster positions, and may include dangerous travel to hurricane, tornado, or other natural disaster sites.
Certain networks also feature specialized correspondent jobs. Entertainment television networks may feature celebrity journalists who exclusively research and report on the activities of famous people. Television shows sometimes feature correspondents who mingle with the public in order to conduct opinion polls, surveys, or short interviews.
Investigative correspondent jobs require some elements that other news correspondent jobs may not. These reporters often research an issue in-depth, sometimes going undercover to achieve secret footage or commentary. Rather than moving from one timely story to the next, investigative journalists may work on a single topic for weeks or months at a time.
News correspondents may work in a team or as individuals. Most require the use of at least another team member. This is usually a camera or other technical person who helps record interviews, audio sounds, or live video footage.
