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Columnist vs news reporter

The differences between columnists and news reporters can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a columnist and a news reporter. Additionally, a columnist has an average salary of $50,696, which is higher than the $41,481 average annual salary of a news reporter.

The top three skills for a columnist include student newspaper, opinion pieces and twitter. The most important skills for a news reporter are digital marketing, local community, and facebook.

Columnist vs news reporter overview

ColumnistNews Reporter
Yearly salary$50,696$41,481
Hourly rate$24.37$19.94
Growth rate-10%-10%
Number of jobs1,78311,609
Job satisfaction-4
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 77%Bachelor's Degree, 83%
Average age4040
Years of experience22

Columnist vs news reporter salary

Columnists and news reporters have different pay scales, as shown below.

ColumnistNews Reporter
Average salary$50,696$41,481
Salary rangeBetween $34,000 And $75,000Between $26,000 And $64,000
Highest paying City-New York, NY
Highest paying state-New York
Best paying company-The Monitor Group
Best paying industry-Media

Differences between columnist and news reporter education

There are a few differences between a columnist and a news reporter in terms of educational background:

ColumnistNews Reporter
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 77%Bachelor's Degree, 83%
Most common majorJournalismJournalism
Most common collegeMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyMassachusetts Institute of Technology

Columnist vs news reporter demographics

Here are the differences between columnists' and news reporters' demographics:

ColumnistNews Reporter
Average age4040
Gender ratioMale, 53.2% Female, 46.8%Male, 45.0% Female, 55.0%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.4% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 12.7% Asian, 9.7% White, 66.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%Black or African American, 6.3% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 12.4% Asian, 9.6% White, 67.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage10%10%

Differences between columnist and news reporter duties and responsibilities

Columnist example responsibilities.

  • Share articles via twitter and facebook.
  • Frequent contributor to several British on- and off-line men's magazines.
  • Provide weekly articles on the NBA featuring analysis, news and opinions.
  • Content promotion via social networks (Facebook, twitter, etc .).
  • Focuse on trending topics while providing a solid SEO and social media component.
  • Explain complex NBA concepts and strategies in simple terms through diagram photos and videos.
  • Show more

News reporter example responsibilities.

  • Report to managing editor as member of editorial staff, contribute to newspaper editorials.
  • Conduct interviews, edit clips and stories, and announce stories/headlines on air.
  • Work with editors to deliver content in the appropriate style with an eye for SEO.
  • Operate digital recording equipment to film b-roll footage, interviews, and on camera reporting.
  • Drive online traffic through social networking, weaving SEO strategy into story copy, and frequent blogging.
  • Work independently gathering news stories, capturing audio sound clips for air, and writing news stories.
  • Show more

Columnist vs news reporter skills

Common columnist skills
  • Student Newspaper, 16%
  • Opinion Pieces, 7%
  • Twitter, 6%
  • Mental Health, 6%
  • Feature Stories, 5%
  • News Stories, 5%
Common news reporter skills
  • Digital Marketing, 13%
  • Local Community, 10%
  • Facebook, 6%
  • Twitter, 6%
  • Develop Story Ideas, 5%
  • Instagram, 4%

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