A journalist is a person who reports on the news or current affairs. Most often, they tend to specialize in a particular area such as politics, sports or health – though this is not always the case, especially with broadcast reporters who will be sent to wherever a story is happening. The two primary areas of journalistic work are in written publications and in broadcast media, though many often span the two disciplines.
Journalists can take on many different roles from researcher to the presenter and from columnists to photojournalist – all of which fall under this fairly wide remit of the journalist. While many view the role of a journalist to be a cushy job, it can be incredibly challenging and dangerous at times. Since 1992 it is reported that 887 journalists have been killed worldwide while reporting. In most of these cases, the journalist has bee murdered. The country with the highest number of deaths is Iraq, followed by the Philippines and then Russia.
The role of the journalist is also changing as technology grows. Much journalism now takes place in the newsroom with fewer and fewer sources on the ground searching for stories.