RESEARCH 18 - The job roles in a news room

THE JOB ROLES IN A NEWS ROOM

There are plenty of job roles in a news room that are all equally important to preparing for the types of news. The different individual jobs all make a big impact to the whole job, as they are all participate in the making.

Here are the 10 jobs that are carried out in the news room: 

1.    1.      CAMERA OPERATOR: The camera operator is responsible for filming the pictures needed for the programme. This can be from going out and filming something from outside and seeing whether it is newsworthy enough, or even in the studio when they are filming the presenters reading about the news.

2.   DIRECTOR: The director has a huge role as he/she ensures that the editorial and technical side of the programme comes together on air. They inform the other members of crew such as the camera operators and sound mixers about what they need to capture to make sure that the programme looks spot-on.

3.   EDITOR: The editor or output editor is responsible for the programme, which is extremely vital. They choose stories and decides which order they will be run in and where to locate each story.

4.   FLOOR MANAGER: Although, the floor manager doesn't sound important, it is! The floor manager has the overall responsibility of the safety of everyone in the studio. Sometimes the floor manager is effectively the “eyes and ears’ and the “hands and feet” of the director in the studio, which clearly shows its importance.

5.   PRESENTER: The presenter is the person who presents he TV or radio programme, and presents it all to the audience. They read the headlines and introduce other information from the different presenters. They also take part in live interviews that take place in outside broadcasts.

6.   PRODUCERS: The producer covers a lot of roles. For instance the producer can go from the person who writes the presenters script and ensures each story is right. It can also imply the person who is out and about gathering the stories, helping a reporter out to put out a package or do a live broadcast. Studio producers give instructions to the gallery and presenter while the programme is on air.

7.   REPORTER: The reporters are accountable for presenting their stories that they have collected on air, or writing them up on to the web. They handle interviews, create packages and do live reports. Also, senior reporters or those who specialize in a certain area are usually called correspondents.

8.   SOUND MIXER: The sound mixer uses the sound-mixing desk to identify and choose the different sources. These include microphones, videotapes and CD’s. They may also use ‘faders’ on the desk to make sounds louder (fade up) or quieter (fade down).

9.   VIDEO EDITOR: The video editor, who is also known, as simply just an editor is the person who cuts the pictures together. They work closely with the producers and reporters, making sure they link.

10. VISION MIXER: The vision mixer uses the vision making equipment to select pictures from a variety of sources. These include cameras, videotapes and graphics. The vision mixer use their equipment to edit their sources these include edits such as cutting, mixing, wiping between the sources, and depending on what the director desires.

 Overall, from looking at all these different roles, it has shown me how important and busy it is a newsroom and without one of them the whole job would break down, because everything is relevant and everyone is dependent for each other to do their job up to the best of standards.

Sources: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/15_08_11_job_roles.pdf