People only know that there’s editors and writers in newspapers but as you take a closer look, there’s various types of editors and even writers, so listed here are some of the different jobs for print journalism.
Editor in Chief: This is the top honcho when it comes to the editorial assignments, because all the stories that are printed for the paper would go by his desk and get approved.
That’s the reason why when a newspaper is being sued for libel cases, the the editor in chief will always be a part of the defendants for the case, because all articles would have been reviewed and authorized by the editor in chief.
Managing Editor and Associate Editor: Those are the assistants to the editor in chief - not the ones that bring them their coffee therefore should not be confused with the job description of a secretary.
Often, managing editors are the second in command, along with associate editors.
These people are essentially assigned to manage the writers and the contributors for the section.
Within the tinier news organizations such as within schools, they’re additionally the ones who manage the day to day operations like the schedule and the budget.
Section Heads: In any paper, there’s various sections, therefore a single section head for instance will work in lifestyle and another with news or with sports.
These are the ones that are in charge of assigning assignments and finding new stories.
For the areas which have smaller sub sections in them, there are journalists who are tasked to head those splinter groups and they are known as sub-section heads.
They’re assigned to care for their own areas as well as prepping the materials and closing the page.
Writers: These are the heart of these papers since they’re the people that collect and get the news in your hands.
Those the individuals that get to where the the news actually is and find whatever they can possibly write on it - normally, writers are sent to various sections.
As an example, one writer might be assigned to report about health issues and another writer writes sports related issues.
Correspondents and contributors: Those are people who also write for the paper but are not actually employed by the company.
They may pen and submit stories to various papers and they are paid per story and not per month like with the in house writers.
Contributors are often what we refer to as freelance writers and since they are not employed by that company, they do not get the regular benefits, though they don’t have to come to work either.
Editorial assistants: These people are the people that care for the day to day operation of one section.
They also write if required however their function is to help smooth the work for the writers and editors.
Copy readers: Those are people who look at the articles to see if there’s any typos and in some cases poor grammar which might have been overlooked during the editing stage.
These individuals essentially check the whole article and correct any mistakes in them, normally surface checking and nothing deeper like redoing an entire article.
