Other Definitions
reporter (dict)
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ReporterJournalism A reporter is a type of journalist who researches and presents information in certain types of mass media. Reporting is usually distinguished from similar work, such as writing in general, by news judgment (determining newsworthiness) and journalism values (such as objectivity). Reporters get their information in a variety of ways, including tips, press releases, and witnessing an event. They perform research through interviews, public records and other sources. The information-gathering part of the job is sometimes called "reporting" as distinct from the production part of the job, such as writing articles. They split their time between working in a newsroom and going out to witness events or interview people. Most reporters are assigned an area to focus on, called a "beat". They are encouraged to "cultivate sources" so they won't miss news. Reporters usually have a college degree. The degree is often in journalism, but that is not required. When hiring reporters, editors give much weight to the reporter's previous work, (such as newspaper "clips") even when written for a student newspaper or as part of an internship. One common misconception is that newspaper reporters write the headlines for their articles, but those are written by copy editors. Although their work can often make them into minor celebrities, most reporters earn rather average salaries. The exceptions are television reporters and reporters who win the Pulitzer Prize. Law In law, a reporter is a series of books which contain court opinions. The term was originally used to refer to the individual persons who actually compile, edit, and publish such opinions. It still carries that alternative meaning, which can be confusing. In common law countries, court opinions are legally binding under the rule of stare decisis. Thus, the regular publication of such opinions is important so that everyone—lawyers, judges, and laymen—can all find out what the law is, as declared by judges. In England, reporters were initially compiled in a rather haphazard fashion by private entrepreneurs. The situation was not helped by the tradition among English judges of delivering opinions orally, and of not distributing written copies, so the quality of reporters usually depended on the shorthand skills of whomever was taking notes. In 1865, the nonprofit Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England & Wales was founded, and it has gradually become the dominant publisher of reporters in the U.K. It has compiled most of the best available copies of pre-1866 cases into the English Reports. Post-1866 cases are contained in the ICLR's own Law Reports. Even today, the U.K. government does not publish an official reporter, but its courts have promulgated rules stating that the ICLR reporters should be cited whenever possible. In the United States, a similarly chaotic situation prevailed up to the mid-19th century, when the U.S. Supreme Court and many U.S. states began to publish official reporters. In the 1880s, the West Publishing Company started its National Reporter System, which is a family of regional reporters, each of which covers all federal and state opinions in a specific group of states. The NRS is now the dominant unofficial reporter system in the U.S., and some smaller states have discontinued their own official reporters and certified the appropriate West reporter as their official reporter. West and its rival, LexisNexis, both publish unofficial reporters of U.S. Supreme Court opinions. Oddly, the U.S. Government does not publish an official reporter for the federal courts at the circuit and district levels. However, just as the U.K. government uses the ICLR reporters by default, the U.S. courts use the unofficial West federal reporters, which are the Federal Reporter (for circuits) and the Federal Supplement (for districts). West also publishes several unofficial state-specific reporters for large states like California.
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