Most 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 a few of the different careers for print journalism.
Editor in Chief: This is the big boss when it comes to the editorial work, because all the stories that are printed in the paper will go over his desk and become approved.
This is the reason why if a paper is being sued for libel cases, the name of the editor in chief will always be a part of the defendants for that case, because all articles would have been reviewed and authorized by the editor in chief.
Managing Editor and Associate Editor: These are the assistants to the editor in chief - not the ones that bring them their coffee so should not be confused with the title of secretary.
Oftentimes, managing editors are second to the Editor in Chief, along with associate editors.
These people are basically tasked to handle both the writers as well as the contributors for the section.
In smaller news organizations such as within schools, they’re additionally the ones who manage the day to day functions such as the schedule and budget.
Section Heads: For a newspaper, there are different sections, so a single section head for example would work with lifestyle and the other one with the news or the sports.
Those are the ones that are in charge of assigning assignments and finding new stories.
For the areas which feature sub sections within them, there’s writers that are tasked to lead those chunks and they are called sub-section heads.
They are assigned to care for their own areas as well as prepping the materials and finishing the page.
Writers: Such 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 - often, writers are sent to different beats.
For instance, one may be assigned to report about health while another writes about sports.
Correspondents and contributors: These are people who additionally write for the newspaper however aren’t actually employed by the company.
They may pen and send their stories to different newspapers and they are paid per story and not monthly like the regular writers.
Contributors are usually what we refer to as freelance writers and because they are not employed by the company, they don’t receive the normal benefits, but they also don’t have to report for work.
Editorial assistants: These individuals are the people who take care of the day to day operation of one section.
They additionally write if required but their function is to help smooth the work for the writers and editors.
Copy readers: Those are people who check on the articles to see if there’s any typos and in some cases poor grammar which might have been overlooked during the editing phase.
Those individuals essentially check the whole article and correct any mistakes in them, normally looking over the surface and nothing deeper like redoing an entire article.