Times Insider takes readers on a journey that reporters at The Times embark on from researching the story to reporting it.
Journalists at The Times work hard to build their beats so people tip them off to information and so they are prepared when something happens in the area they cover. Additionally, they also explain how the news on their beat connects to other national news or trends.
“Beat reporting is essential to The Times,” said Marc Lacey, The Times’s national editor. “Whether a reporter is covering the White House, the New York Police Department, Broadway or West Africa, it is essential to develop sources and expertise over time. We have reporters who have built up authority on their beats for not just years but decades.”
To build that authority, reporters study what has been written on the subject. They read books, news reports, business school case studies, newsletters and Twitter lists of relevant accounts. “You just read and read and read,” said John Schwartz, who writes about climate change and has had beats including tech, infrastructure, law and the space program since he began writing for The Times in 2000.
The beginning of a new beat is a “golden time,” said Sapna Maheshwari, who covers retail for The Times, because sources are happy to answer basic questions and explain complicated concepts.
However, some reporters stay on the same beat for years or even decades, preferring to specialize over the course of their careers while some change beats.
For national correspondents, who are assigned to cover regions of the country, there is an understanding that the job is not forever, Lacey, former Washington reporter and now the National editor, said. The expertise correspondents develop over time is valuable, he said, adding, “We also appreciate the fresh eyes of those who are newer to a region.”
“I thrive on the fact that my journalism career has really been many careers,” he concluded.
