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In journalism, an assignment editor is an editor—either at a newspaper or a radio or television station—who selects, develops, and plans reporting assignments, either news events or feature stories, to be covered by reporters.[1]
An assignment editor often fields calls from the public, who give news tips, or information about a possible story or event to be covered. Sometimes, these calls may:
Other times, the news tip may come in the form of a news release, which may either promote an event, meeting, etc. or alert editors and reporters about an upcoming news conference. Sometimes, assignment editors must sift through hundreds of news releases each day. In many cases, possibly dependent on the market, assignment editors use police scanners, listening to traffic between 911 dispatchers and police officers in the field.
Whatever the case, it is the assignment editor's job to determine what news tips and news releases are the most newsworthy and then decide which reporter to assign a story to. Those assignments are often determined based on the reporter's experience, skills, and his/her beat (e.g., police, courts, schools, city hall, county, etc.).
If a major story develops – such as a disaster or economic development – an assignment editor may enlist several reporters (in addition to whoever usually covers that beat) to cover various angles of a story. For instance, if the story is about a plant closing, one reporter may be asked to do the main story about the closing, while other reporters may be asked to do stories on such topics as employee reaction, the reaction from business and community leaders, a history of the plant (and other plant closings, if appropriate), etc.
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