Journalists and reporters
Official title News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists (SOC 27-3023)
Also called Journalist, Reporter, News reporter, News analyst, Staff reporter
In brief
In May 2025, BLS counted 39,250 US journalists and reporters, with median pay of $62,200 a year. Of the BLS counts since 2021, the highest was 45,020, in May 2023. The earliest figure here is an estimate of 30,000 from 1900, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era for journalists and reporters: Otter.ai + Trint, 2018 to 2023.
What the sources say
Official outlook
BLS projects employment to decline 5.9% from 2025 to 2035.
AI exposure studies
- 63.3% of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. Eloundou and others, 2023
Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend.
Last updated .
Cite this page
Future History. (2026, October 11). Journalists and reporters: jobs and pay since 1900 [Data set; data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35]. https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/27-3023
Future History. "Journalists and reporters: jobs and pay since 1900." Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. Last modified October 11, 2026. https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/27-3023.
@misc{futurehistory_27_3023, author = {{Future History}}, title = {Journalists and reporters: jobs and pay since 1900}, year = {2026}, month = oct, howpublished = {\url{https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/27-3023}}, note = {Last updated 2026-10-11. Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35}, }
The access date is today's date on your device.
≈ $60,605 in 2024 prices (derived by us, CPI-adjusted)
Benjamin Day launches the New York Sun on September 3, 1833, at one cent per copy, inaugurating the penny press era and the first salaried reporter role in the US. Day hired George Wisner to cover police courts on a $4/week salary; this was the first explicit beat-reporter employment contract in American journalism.
The Associated Press is founded as a cooperative of five New York daily newspapers (NY Sun, NY Herald, NY Tribune, NY Courier and Enquirer, NY Express) to share telegraphed dispatches from the Mexican-American War. This is the first professional infrastructure for news-gathering beyond any single paper: the institutional foundation of the wire reporter as an occupation.
The first Pulitzer Prizes are awarded on June 4, 1917, funded by the endowment of Joseph Pulitzer (who died 1911) and administered by Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism (opened 1912). The Prize becomes the most prestigious external marker of journalistic quality in the US: the first credentialing signal that distinguishes "journalism" from mere newsprint. The Society of Professional Journalists (Sigma Delta Chi, founded 1909 at DePauw University) had already established a national professional association. Together, these two institutions completed the professionalization arc that had begun with the penny press.
The Washington Post's Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein begin reporting on the Watergate break-in, publishing their first major story on June 19, 1972. Their two-year investigation, culminating in President Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974, represents the prestige peak of investigative journalism in the 20th century, cementing the public image of the reporter as democratic accountability agent. Journalism school applications surged in the decade following Watergate. The narrative power of this moment still shapes the cultural defense of journalism against automation: "AI couldn't have done Watergate" is the occupation's strongest identity claim.
Craig Newmark launches Craigslist in the San Francisco Bay Area as an email distribution list in 1995; it becomes a website in 1996 and expands to major US cities through the early 2000s. Classified advertising (help-wanted, real estate, and automotive listings) had been the financial backbone of US newspapers, accounting for an estimated 40% of newspaper revenue at peak. Craigslist's free classified listings began the collapse of this revenue stream, which was complete by the mid-2000s. The loss of classified revenue is the primary proximate cause of the 43,000 newsroom jobs lost between 2006 and 2020.
The Associated Press signs a licensing deal with OpenAI in July 2023, granting OpenAI access to AP's text archive in exchange for API access and revenue. Axel Springer (Politico, Business Insider) follows with an OpenAI deal in December 2023. On December 27, 2023, the New York Times files suit against OpenAI and Microsoft in the Southern District of New York, alleging mass copyright infringement in training data. The three events, two commercial accommodations and one lawsuit, define the fault lines of how journalism institutions are navigating the generative-AI transition.
The Knight Foundation's "State of Local News 2023" report (Northwestern Medill Local News Initiative) finds that the US has lost more than a third of its newspapers since 2005-2,900 papers, mostly weeklies and small dailies in rural and suburban markets. More than 200 counties now have no local newspaper at all ("news deserts"). The Knight Foundation calculates that more than 70 million Americans live in counties with limited local news coverage.
BLS publishes the 2024-34 Occupational Outlook projecting a -6% decline in journalist employment over the next decade: the first OOH cycle to explicitly cite AI as a driver of journalist headcount contraction. In the same year, the AI-generated Sports Illustrated byline scandal (discovered November 2023) and CNET's 75 AI-authored articles (January 2023) signal that AI substitution in commercial media is underway, not just projected.
Will AI replace journalists and reporters? What the research says
Each figure is stated by the named source; we publish no forecasts of our own. Where sources disagree, we show the disagreement rather than an average.
Each figure is stated by the named source; we publish no forecasts of our own. Where sources disagree, the spread is the honest signal.
What's changing day to day for journalists and reporters
Three parts of your work where AI is already doing real lifting, and what stays yours.
AI is taking this onGenerate structured-event news articles (earnings summaries, sports scores, weather briefings, and routine local government meeting recaps) using AP Automated Insights (Wordsmith) or Bloomberg's internal NLG pipeline, with a journalist reviewing for errors before publication.
Generate structured-event news articles (earnings summaries, sports scores, weather briefings, and routine local government meeting recaps) using AP Automated Insights (Wordsmith) or Bloomberg's internal NLG pipeline, with a journalist reviewing for errors before publication.[7],[8]
AP has auto-generated thousands of quarterly earnings stories per year since 2014 using Wordsmith; Bloomberg, Reuters, and the Washington Post (Heliograf) run similar pipelines for structured-data stories. If your beat is primarily structured-event coverage (league standings, quarterly results, meeting minutes) your output is already heavily automated. Shift toward the commentary, context, and accountability layer: what does the earnings report mean for workers, regulators, or competitors? That interpretive judgment is what editors now want from staff reporters on automated beats.
AI is taking this onTranscribe and timestamp on-record interviews, press conferences, and source calls using Otter.ai OtterPilot or Trint AI, then review the AI transcript for accuracy, flag quoted passages for the record, and build the sourced quote log for an article.
Transcribe and timestamp on-record interviews, press conferences, and source calls using Otter.ai OtterPilot or Trint AI, then review the AI transcript for accuracy, flag quoted passages for the record, and build the sourced quote log for an article.[9],[10],[2]
Interview transcription, once a one-to-one time cost, is now highly accurate at near-zero marginal cost with Otter.ai or Trint. Your value on transcription is not typing speed; it is the judgment about which quotes are quotable, what the source meant versus what they said, and whether the on-record content clears your outlet's verification bar. Build a quote-review workflow: AI transcribes, you evaluate.
AI is sitting alongside you hereConduct background research on story subjects (compiling regulatory filings, public court records, academic literature, and prior press coverage) using Perplexity AI for rapid synthesis, then personally tracing every factual claim to a primary source before publication.
Conduct background research on story subjects (compiling regulatory filings, public court records, academic literature, and prior press coverage) using Perplexity AI for rapid synthesis, then personally tracing every factual claim to a primary source before publication.[11],[7],[12]
AI background-research tools (Perplexity, NotebookLM, ChatGPT) have dramatically compressed the time cost of background research: tasks that took a full day in a library or database can now be done in under an hour. The critical constraint is that these tools hallucinate citations and misattribute claims: every AI-surfaced fact must be traced to a verifiable primary source before appearing in a published story. Develop a citation-chain discipline: AI finds the lead, you confirm the fact at the source.
Where journalists and reporters go next
Natural next steps for someone with your foundation: not exits, evolutions.
- Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists
- US median pay
- $78,760 (May 2025)
- BLS outlook 2025-35
- +7%
- Public Relations Specialists
- US median pay
- $74,750 (May 2025)
- BLS outlook 2025-35
- +1.8%
- Editors
- US median pay
- $77,920 (May 2025)
- BLS outlook 2025-35
- -1.1%
What each move takes
Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists
Data journalists and reporters who specialize in document-intensive investigative work already practice the core skills of Market Research Analysts: identifying signal in large datasets, structuring findings into narratives supported by evidence, and communicating analytical conclusions to non-technical audiences. Market Research Analysts carry similar overall resilience to the deep-tier Journalist score but with better compensation floors in corporate environments. The pivot is strongest for reporters who have developed Excel, SQL, or data visualization skills on the job: these translate directly to quantitative research roles. Requires shifting from news judgment to business insight framing, which is a mindset adjustment more than a skill gap.
- · Survey design and quantitative research methodology (Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey)
- · Statistical analysis and data visualization (Excel, Tableau, Python basics)
- · Market segmentation and competitive intelligence analysis frameworks
- · Consumer insight reporting for brand and product decision-making audiences
- · Business ROI framing and stakeholder communication at VP and C-suite level
How has the work of journalists and reporters changed since 1833?
The tools that defined the work, one line per era. Select an era to see how it reshaped the work.
Hand press + telegraph wire dispatches
Early penny-press reporters gathered news on foot or horseback and transmitted copy by hand delivery to the composing room. The electric telegraph, commercially available by 1844, transformed correspondents into wire reporters: the Associated Press's founding in 1846 was built entirely around telegraph dispatch sharing. Reporters now had to write for transmission, which pressured tight, factual prose over the florid essay style of earlier gazettes.
Steam rotary press + Linotype machine (1884)
Ottmar Mergenthaler's Linotype machine, installed at the New York Tribune in 1886, mechanized typesetting: a compositor could now set thousands of characters per hour. Combined with steam-powered rotary presses, this technology enabled the mass-circulation daily newspaper. Reporters' output was now constrained not by press capacity but by reporting speed. The Associated Press wire, teletype (commercial from 1913), and later the United Press (1907) created a permanent national infrastructure of copy distribution that employed tens of thousands of reporters feeding the wire services.
Typewriter (Underwood 1895) → IBM Selectric (1961)
The mechanical typewriter standardized the reporter's copy production. Underwood's 1895 model was the newsroom standard for decades; IBM's 1961 Selectric (with the interchangeable "golf ball" type element) became the dominant newsroom typewriter of the 1960s-70s, prized for its quiet keystroke and speed. Reporters on deadline typed copy directly to editors who read and marked galleys before sending to the composing room. The typewriter imposed the discipline of fixed-width mono output and trained the "write once, quickly" muscle that still defines daily deadline culture.
Atex computer typesetting system + video display terminals
The Atex editorial system, developed in the early 1970s and widely deployed at major US papers through the late 1970s, moved reporters from typewriters to video display terminals for the first time. Reporters filed copy directly to an editorial queue; copy editors edited on-screen; the system fed directly into phototypesetting. The shift eliminated the intermediate paste-up step and accelerated publication cycles. The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and AP all implemented Atex-family systems. Many newspaper Guild contracts included provisions requiring buyouts for union compositors displaced by the transition.
Effect on the workThe shift from hot-metal compositing to CRT-based systems eliminated most traditional compositing and paste-up jobs in major papers through the late 1970s and 1980s: the first major technology-driven newsroom labor displacement.
Desktop publishing: Quark XPress (1987) + PageMaker (1985)
Aldus PageMaker (1985) on the Macintosh and Quark XPress (1987) moved newspaper and magazine layout from dedicated typesetting terminals to desktop computers running off-the-shelf hardware. By the early 1990s, any reporter with a Mac could produce camera-ready pages. The technology eliminated the remaining dedicated typesetting and layout role: compositors who had survived the Atex transition were displaced a second time. Smaller papers collapsed entire production departments onto two or three people.
Effect on the workDesktop publishing eliminated most traditional paste-up compositor positions at mid-size and small newspapers through the 1990s, per industry analyst estimates. Total newsroom employment continued to rise because reporter and editorial hiring increased faster than compositing jobs were lost.
World Wide Web + email: online distribution and newsgathering
The launch of Netscape Navigator (1994) and the rapid growth of the web transformed reporters' research, distribution, and sourcing. Primary documents (court records, SEC filings, federal agency data) became directly accessible without a library or records request. Email enabled reporters to reach sources faster and maintain off-the-record relationships across distance. News organizations launched online editions; the first dedicated digital-native news staff positions appeared at sites like Slate (1996), Salon (1995), and newspaper websites. Reporters now managed a web-filing workflow alongside their print cycle.
Blogs + WordPress (2003) + Twitter / X (2006): citizen journalism and social media reporting
WordPress (May 27, 2003) gave anyone a free publishing platform; within three years there were millions of active political and civic blogs (DailyKos, TPM, HuffPost). Twitter (2006) became a real-time newswire, by 2009, the Hudson River plane crash and the 2009 Iranian election protests were first reported on Twitter by eyewitnesses. Reporters were now expected to maintain a Twitter presence, break their own scoops publicly, and monitor social media for tips. The distinction between "reporter" and "source" began to blur. Professional newsrooms also faced their first direct competition from unpaid distributed reporting.
Effect on the workBlogging and social media contributed to the collapse of local newspaper dominance in political and hyperlocal coverage, accelerating the advertising revenue decline that cost tens of thousands of newsroom jobs between 2006 and 2020.
iPhone (2007) + smartphone video: mobile field reporting and livestreaming
Apple's iPhone, launched June 29, 2007, put a capable camera and internet connection in every reporter's pocket. By 2010, journalists routinely shot and filed video from the field on phones. The Arab Spring (2010-11) demonstrated that smartphone video could document events at a scale and speed no professional camera crew could match. News organizations transitioned to "mobile-first" and "multimedia journalist" (MMJ) role definitions: one reporter who shoots, edits, and files text, photo, and video. Separate video and photo teams shrank at most print organizations.
Effect on the workMultimedia-journalist role consolidation eliminated a significant share of dedicated newspaper photographer and videographer positions through the 2010s. The Newspaper Guild documented numerous rounds of photographer layoffs correlated with "MMJ" restructurings at Gannett, Tribune, and Advance Properties.
Newsroom CMS platforms: Vox's Chorus, NYT's Scoop, Arc Publishing (Washington Post)
Large digital newsrooms built or licensed custom content management systems to replace WordPress and legacy print CMSes. Arc Publishing (Washington Post, general-licensed 2017), Vox Media's Chorus, and the New York Times's internal Scoop system gave reporters structured, analytics-integrated publishing environments that embedded SEO metadata, social card generation, audience analytics, and paywall management directly into the writing workflow. Reporters now operated as product-aware content producers, responsible for headline A/B variants, SEO slug choices, and push notification copy in addition to the article itself.
Automated Insights Wordsmith + Heliograf (Washington Post): AI-generated structured news
Automated Insights' Wordsmith platform was deployed by the Associated Press in July 2014 to auto-generate quarterly earnings stories from structured financial data. The Washington Post deployed its Heliograf system for the 2016 Rio Olympics and 2016 election to generate routine coverage of contests and scores. These systems handled high-volume structured-data reporting: the commodity journalism segment most disconnected from source-access.
Effect on the workAP's earnings automation freed a small team of editors to produce more complex financial journalism rather than replacing existing headcount directly. But the automation signaled that the structured-data reporting segment of journalism would not grow with reporter headcount even if volume increased.
Otter.ai (2018) + Trint: AI transcription for interview workflows
Otter.ai (launched 2018) and Trint provided highly accurate real-time transcription of interviews and press conferences at near-zero marginal cost. Tasks that had consumed one-to-one recording time, a one-hour interview required one hour of transcription, collapsed to a minutes-long AI review pass. Both platforms integrated with Zoom and Teams, enabling automatic transcription of remote interviews. Trint, used by AP, BBC, and Condé Nast, added collaborative annotation for quote flagging directly in the transcript view.
Generative AI: ChatGPT, DALL-E 2, Midjourney + AP/OpenAI and Axel Springer/OpenAI deals; NYT lawsuit
ChatGPT's November 2022 launch demonstrated that large language models could draft plausible news summaries, headlines, and structured stories from prompts, pressuring newsrooms to articulate AI-use policies. The Associated Press struck a licensing deal with OpenAI in July 2023, giving OpenAI access to AP's text archive for training in exchange for API access and revenue sharing. Axel Springer (Politico, Business Insider) signed a deal with OpenAI in December 2023. The New York Times filed suit against OpenAI and Microsoft on December 27, 2023, alleging copyright infringement: the first major news-organization legal challenge to AI training data practices. DALL-E 2 and Midjourney enabled AI image generation at publication quality, pressing photojournalism and stock photo budgets.
Effect on the workBLS 2024-34 OOH explicitly cites AI as a contributor to projected employment decline for 27-3023: the first BLS projection cycle to name AI as a headcount constraint for journalism. The structural layoffs at CNET (many AI-authored articles discovered January 2023), G/O Media (The Inventory), and Sports Illustrated (AI bylines, November 2023) represent the first wave of AI substitution in commercial newsrooms.
See the same long-arc view for your own profession.
Browse the directory by industry, or search by title or SOC code.
Browse all rolesNews Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists employment and pay by year
In other countries
The latest figure each country's statistics agency publishes for this job. Each uses its own occupation definition, survey basis and currency, so the numbers are not directly comparable with each other or with the US figures.
Canada (NOC 51113)
- Employment, 2020
- 10,270, Statistics Canada Census 2021 Official statistic Report an errorStatistics Canada Census of Population 2021: number of persons with employment income in NOC 51113 Journalists, Canada, reference year 2020. A recipients basis (anyone with employment income during the year), slightly broader than a point-in-time employed count. Statistics Canada Open Licence.
- Median pay, 2020
- C$67,000, Statistics Canada Census 2021 Official statistic Report an errorStatistics Canada Census of Population 2021 (Table 98-10-0586): median employment income for NOC 51113 Journalists, Canada, reference year 2020, full-year full-time workers (the basis comparable to the US OEWS full-time median). Statistics Canada Open Licence.
View all 13 years of cited US data, each linked to its source
| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 | 30,000 | $500 | Est., Mott, Frank Luther Researched context | Report |
| 1950 | 75,000 | n/a | Est., Estimated 1950 reporter/journalist… Researched context | Report |
| 1970 | 80,000 | $9,100 | Decennial Census 1970 (employment) Researched contextEst., Weaver & Wilhoit (pay) Researched context | Report |
| 1990 | 125,000 | n/a | Est., Weaver, David H. & Wilhoit, G. Cleveland Researched context | Report |
| 2000 | n/a | $29,110 | BLS OEWS 2000 Official statistic | Report |
| 2006 | 74,000 | n/a | Est., Pew Research Center Researched context | Report |
| 2019 | 44,100 | $46,270 | BLS OEWS May 2019 Official statistic | Report |
| 2020 | 41,580 | $49,300 | BLS OEWS May 2020 Official statistic | Report |
| 2021 | 39,080 | $48,370 | BLS OEWS May 2021 Official statistic | Report |
| 2022 | 44,530 | $55,960 | BLS OEWS May 2022 Official statistic | Report |
| 2023 | 45,020 | $57,500 | BLS OEWS May 2023 Official statistic | Report |
| 2024 | 41,550 | $60,280 | BLS OEWS May 2024 Official statistic | Report |
| 2025 | 39,250 | $62,200 | BLS OEWS May 2025 Official statistic | Report |