WHO DOES WHAT IN TELEVISION?*

You probably know basically what anchors, reporters and photographers do.  Here are descriptions of some other jobs in a television newsroom you may not have known about.

Producer

            A line producer or show producer decides what stories run in a newscast and guides the program from start to finish. Special projects producers work on other types of programs besides daily newscasts, or on special features that run during the news. Field producers work with reporters and/or photographers outside of the newsroom.

Assignment Editor

            An assignment editor works in the newsroom, sending out reporters, photographers, and sometimes live trucks to cover stories.  This person listens to police and fire scanners and receives calls on scheduled news events.  An assignment editor also may make calls to check facts on stories and/or to follow up on story tips.

Videotape Editor

            This type of editor takes raw video and transforms it into what you see on the newscast, by electronically or digitally picking and choosing the shots, their order and length.  Sometimes photographers edit the stories they shoot.  In large television markets, often editors do the job.  

Writer

            A writer's job is to write most of the stories that aren't covered by a reporter.  These can be stories with or without videotape or sound interviews.  Large-market television stations may have several writers on staff.

Assistant Producer or Production Assistant

     This person has different duties at different television stations, but is usually asked to perform various tasks to help the producer before and during a newscast, including possibly writing stories and/or "teases".

News Director vs. Newscast Director

            They're very different jobs, though sometimes confused by people outside of television.  A newscast director is the person in charge of the technical production of a newscast -- deciding which studio camera will shoot a particular shot, for instance.  A news director is the person in charge of the entire news department.

*Many of these same jobs also exist in radio news.

Source: Lee Hood, University of Colorado School of Journalism & Mass Communication