International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

News workers are those engaged in the production of the written, visual, or audio texts designated as news and information appearing in print media and on broadcast and cable television, radio, and the Internet. These workers assign, report, research, write, and edit reports as well as produce and assemble visual images and the graphic forms for news and information. News workers also include senior editors, news directors, and others who manage these functions (→  news ; News Routines ; News Story ). As an occupational category, news work does not usually include those engaged in any manufacturing, distribution, or advertising functions (such as press operators, broadcast engineers, or sales representatives). Although larger than that of journalist, the category includes only a small fraction of the workforce in communication industries (→  News Production and Technology ). The United States , for example, had about 1.5 million workers in those industries (including telephony) at the turn of the twenty-first century. By one estimate, however, fewer than 120,000 were full-time editorial workers in mainstream media, about 50 percent in daily newspapers and somewhat less than 20 percent in television news. In China , by contrast, full-time editorial workers numbered about 87,000, distributed across the media in similar percentages. By comparison, approximately 30,000 people are ... log in or subscribe to read full text