OLD Media News

An insight into the journey of a Times Insider reporter

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.

Mariam Ahmed

Recent Posts

Marfil among the WSJ layoffs in DC

Jude Marfil, newsroom operations manager for The Wall Street Journal in its Washington office, was…

4 hours ago

Greene departing Cointelegraph

Tristan Greene, deputy U.S. news editor at cryptocurrency news site CoinTelegraph, is leaving next month…

4 hours ago

Dynamo hires former Business Insider executive editor Harrington

Former Business Insider executive editor Rebecca Harrington has been hired by Dynamo to be its…

2 days ago

Bloomberg TV hires Kerubo as desk producer

Bloomberg Television has hired Brenda Kerubo as a desk producer in London. She will be covering Europe's…

2 days ago

Jittery CNBC staff reassured by new boss

In a meeting at CNBC headquarters Thursday afternoon, incoming boss Mark Lazarus presented a bullish…

2 days ago

Making business news accessible to a wider audience

Ritika Gupta, the BBC's North American business correspondent, was interviewed by Global Woman magazine about…

2 days ago