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.
Business reporter responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real business reporter resumes:
- 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.
- Cover technology news for business section and write technology features for Sunday edition.
- Cover international trade, foreign debt, decentralization and other business and economic issues for English edition of Brazilian business daily.
- Interview persons of interest, organize event calendars, write regular articles, provide consistent photography, and help paraphrase stock compilations
- Copy editor, assistant editor, daily news reporter for top English-language daily in Mexico
- Conduct training for staff in math for journalists, use of Bloomberg terminal, writing for the web.
- Confer with management and editorial staff members weekly regarding placement and emphasis of feature articles and developing news stories.
- Brief and advise editorial executives on speaking effectively with small business owners at conferences around the country base on demographic trends.
- Interview up and coming Latino artists which generate significant increase in readership.
Business reporter skills and personality traits
We calculated that 28% of Business Reporters are proficient in News Stories, Business News, and Real Estate. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Computer skills, and Creativity.
We break down the percentage of Business Reporters that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- News Stories, 28%
Provided in-depth, award-winning news stories and analysis of key developments in business, specializing in aerospace and aviation.
- Business News, 14%
Researched topics, gathered information and interviewed sources in providing general and target audiences with daily reports on business news.
- Real Estate, 9%
Served as a general assignment reporter responsible for real estate, technology and other business-related beats.
- Facebook, 8%
Utilize platforms like Twitter and Facebook to identify news opportunities and break news.
- Edition, 4%
Covered international trade, foreign debt, decentralization and other business and economic issues for English edition of Brazilian business daily.
- Clips, 4%
Published clips include health care trends in business, executive profiles, and start-up businesses' success stories.
Common skills that a business reporter uses to do their job include "news stories," "business news," and "real estate." You can find details on the most important business reporter responsibilities below.
Communication skills. One of the key soft skills for a business reporter to have is communication skills. You can see how this relates to what business reporters do because "reporters, correspondents, and broadcast news analysts must be able to report the news." Additionally, a business reporter resume shows how business reporters use communication skills: "reported on real estate, telecommunications and biotechnology. "
Computer skills. Another essential skill to perform business reporter duties is computer skills. Business reporters responsibilities require that "journalists should be able to use editing equipment and other broadcast-related devices." Business reporters also use computer skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "interviewed people and covered news events; took stories from reporters in the field via telephone onto a computer. "
The three companies that hire the most business reporters are:
- Gannett13 business reporters jobs
- McClatchy3 business reporters jobs
- The Boston Globe3 business reporters jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable business reporter resume templates
Build a professional business reporter resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your business reporter resume.
Compare different business reporters
Business reporter vs. Freelance writer and photographer
Video journalists make videos conveying the news and factual stories for the audiences. Their day-to-day duties may vary but typically include editing, researching, and reporting, developing and planning live or taped video segments, and compiling data from various sources. In addition, a video journalist is responsible for verifying facts, interviewing subjects, and cultivating relationships and sources. Other duties that a video journalist might perform include on-the-spot reporting, anchoring a newscast, and producing content, and taking photos.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between business reporters and freelance writer and photographer. For instance, business reporter responsibilities require skills such as "business news," "edition," "clips," and "tableau." Whereas a freelance writer and photographer is skilled in "photography," "adobe photoshop," "local events," and "conduct interviews." This is part of what separates the two careers.
On average, freelance writer and photographers reach similar levels of education than business reporters. Freelance writer and photographers are 3.7% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.4% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Business reporter vs. Video journalist
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.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that business reporter responsibilities requires skills like "news stories," "business news," "real estate," and "edition." But a video journalist might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "story development," "adobe premiere," "video content," and "edit video."
On average, video journalists earn a higher salary than business reporters. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, video journalists earn the most pay in the media industry with an average salary of $81,579. Whereas business reporters have higher pay in the media industry, with an average salary of $43,960.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Video journalists tend to reach lower levels of education than business reporters. In fact, they're 6.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Business reporter vs. Writer and photographer
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a business reporter is likely to be skilled in "business news," "edition," "clips," and "tableau," while a typical writer and photographer is skilled in "adobe photoshop," "website content," "photography," and "event coverage."
Writer and photographers typically earn lower educational levels compared to business reporters. Specifically, they're 6.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Business reporter vs. Journalist
Types of business reporter
Updated January 8, 2025
