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Business reporter vs journalist

The differences between business reporters and journalists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a business reporter and a journalist. Additionally, a journalist has an average salary of $60,828, which is higher than the $45,788 average annual salary of a business reporter.

The top three skills for a business reporter include news stories, business news and real estate. The most important skills for a journalist are news stories, multimedia, and story development.

Business reporter vs journalist overview

Business ReporterJournalist
Yearly salary$45,788$60,828
Hourly rate$22.01$29.24
Growth rate-10%-10%
Number of jobs54,76011,488
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 81%Bachelor's Degree, 74%
Average age4040
Years of experience22

What does a business reporter do?

A business reporter typically writes articles with regards to breaking news making readers get informed about the industry's current changes and major events. Business reporters gather and analyze facts with regards to events that are newsworthy. They collect information through investigation, research, observation, or interview. Generally, they write and report stories for news magazines, television, newspaper, or radio. It is part of their job to establish innovative ideas for writing news that is associated with a business.

What does a journalist do?

A journalist is responsible for creating written correspondence, covering various subjects as the management requires. This task involves a lot of research investigations, conducting interviews, and gathering reliable sources to verify the authenticity of data before releasing the articles on news portals and other social platforms. Journalists should have excellent communication skills, both written and oral, conveying information to the target audience with high accuracy and efficiency. They analyze opinions and testimonies, create eye-catching headlines, and ensure adherence to deadlines.

Business reporter vs journalist salary

Business reporters and journalists have different pay scales, as shown below.

Business ReporterJournalist
Average salary$45,788$60,828
Salary rangeBetween $28,000 And $73,000Between $38,000 And $95,000
Highest paying CityNew York, NYNew York, NY
Highest paying stateNew JerseyNew York
Best paying companyThe New York Times CompanyBloomberg
Best paying industryMediaFinance

Differences between business reporter and journalist education

There are a few differences between a business reporter and a journalist in terms of educational background:

Business ReporterJournalist
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 81%Bachelor's Degree, 74%
Most common majorJournalismJournalism
Most common collegeMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyMassachusetts Institute of Technology

Business reporter vs journalist demographics

Here are the differences between business reporters' and journalists' demographics:

Business ReporterJournalist
Average age4040
Gender ratioMale, 54.1% Female, 45.9%Male, 46.6% Female, 53.4%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.3% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 12.3% Asian, 9.5% White, 67.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%Black or African American, 6.4% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 12.6% Asian, 9.6% White, 66.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage10%10%

Differences between business reporter and journalist duties and responsibilities

Business reporter example responsibilities.

  • Manage the Facebook page for the newspaper.
  • Launch a social media presence for the section and coordinate Facebook chats.
  • Publish clips include health care trends in business, executive profiles, and start-up businesses' success stories.
  • Design overall content format to enhance SEO performance; company owner report dramatic improvement as a result of this change.
  • Attend an InDesign layout seminar, as well as a seminar on how to use social media to boost messages.
  • Report, video-record and edit two-minute weekly news clips for multimedia packages.
  • Show more

Journalist example responsibilities.

  • Manage studio operations, ensuring that shows run efficiently by floor directing, prompting and providing scripts.
  • Partner closely with 13WHAM ABC Rochester.
  • Award regional EMMY for spot news.
  • Edit headline packages, kickers, bumps and topicals.
  • Update stories to web page, twitter, and facebook.
  • Used ENG trucks to distribute live news feeds during broadcasts.
  • Show more

Business reporter vs journalist skills

Common business reporter skills
  • News Stories, 28%
  • Business News, 14%
  • Real Estate, 9%
  • Facebook, 8%
  • Edition, 4%
  • Clips, 4%
Common journalist skills
  • News Stories, 15%
  • Multimedia, 11%
  • Story Development, 11%
  • Local Community, 7%
  • Edit Video, 5%
  • Local News, 4%

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