News writers are responsible for creating written materials for newspapers, online news websites, and other media outlets. Their main goals are to produce high-quality and accurate content about current events. As such, their job usually requires them to travel to different locations, pursue leads, find fact sources, conduct interviews, and research their piece.
When you are a news writer, you will typically have a pen and notebook with you at all times. Other common tools for this trade include a handheld recorder, a camera, and a laptop to conduct research or write stories on the go.
When hiring a news writer, most employers prefer candidates with a degree in journalism, which is usually the best background to have for this line of work. However, graduates of communications or English degrees may also qualify. In terms of work experience, smaller companies may not require it, but larger companies definitely do to ensure credibility.
A news writer can make around $48,000 per year, on average. Employers also usually provide allowances for work-related travel expenses.
News Writer Overview
News Writer Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a news writer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $23.1 an hour? That's $48,056 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -10% and produce -5,100 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a News Writer Do
There are certain skills that many news writers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed computer skills, communication skills and interpersonal skills.
How To Become a News Writer
If you're interested in becoming a news writer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 81.4% of news writers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 8.7% of news writers have master's degrees. Even though most news writers have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a news writer. When we researched the most common majors for a news writer, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on news writer resumes include associate degree degrees or high school diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a news writer. In fact, many news writer jobs require experience in a role such as internship. Meanwhile, many news writers also have previous career experience in roles such as reporter or writer and editor.
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News Writer Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a news writer can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as writer and editor, progress to a title such as consultant and then eventually end up with the title director of communications and marketing.
News Writer Jobs You Might Like
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Average Salary for a News Writer
Best Paying Cities For News Writers
Recently Added Salaries
Company  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Buzzfeed Trending News Writer-PM Shift (Project-Based) | Buzzfeed | 09/30/2020 | $62,61009/30/2020 |
Buzzfeed Trending News Writer-PM Shift (Project-Based) | Buzzfeed | 08/31/2020 | $62,61008/31/2020 |
University of Maine News Writer | University of Maine | 12/11/2019 | $36,00012/11/2019 |
Takuyo Corporation U.S.-Japan News Writer | Takuyo Corporation | 09/12/2019 | $45,71809/12/2019 |
Shortpeace Films, Inc. News Writer | Shortpeace Films, Inc. | 06/26/2019 | $67,45406/26/2019 |
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Top Colleges for News Writers
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA • Private
2. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
3. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
4. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
5. University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA • Private
6. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Private
7. California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo, CA • Private
8. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
9. Emory University
Atlanta, GA • Private
10. University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX • Private
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Top Skills For a News Writer
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 26.5% of news writers listed news stories on their resume, but soft skills such as computer skills and communication skills are important as well.
- News Stories, 26.5%
- Current Events, 15.5%
- ABC, 6.2%
- On-Air, 6.1%
- SEO, 4.6%
- Other Skills, 41.1% See All News Writer Skills
Best States For a News Writer
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a news writer. The best states for people in this position are New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Vermont. News writers make the most in New York with an average salary of $76,336. Whereas in Massachusetts and New Jersey, they would average $60,033 and $56,874, respectively. While news writers would only make an average of $55,011 in Vermont, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. New York
$76,336
Avg. Salary
2. District of Columbia
$68,642
Avg. Salary
3. Massachusetts
$60,033
Avg. Salary
How Do News Writer Rate Their Jobs?
Top News Writer Employers
We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ news writers and discovered their number of news writer opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that CBS was the best, especially with an average salary of $48,885. CNN follows up with an average salary of $55,169, and then comes Associated Press with an average of $42,231. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as a news writer. The employers include The Walt Disney Company, BuzzFeed, and StockTwits
News Writer Videos
