The editor and the publisher of a newspaper are responsible for whatever is printed in it. In many newspapers the editor and publisher is the same person. In such papers editor is also proprietor and manager.
But where the editor and the publisher are different people, the editor looks after the editorial content that is anything except advertising.
An advertising manager looks after the advertising section. The Publisher, General Manager, Managing Editor or Executive Director look after the management of the newspaper.
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A number of assistant editors assist the editor in looking after editorial and feature pages. The news content of the paper is looked after by the news editor under whose guidance a number of sub-editors, reporters and many other correspondents work.
In India the entry into the profession of journalism is normally as a trainee journalist who is later absorbed as a reporter or a sub-editor.
The job of a reporter is to gather news and write it for his organisation. Sub-editors makes it fit to print.
Reporters go out in the field while sub-editors work at the ‘news desk’ where all the news that comes, is selected, edited, each news story is given a suitable headline and its place in the newspaper is decided.
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Reporters can become senior reporters, correspondents, senior correspondents, chief reporter, special correspondent and foreign correspondents.
Sub-editors are promoted to the positions of senior sub-editor, chief sub-editor, deputy news editor and news editor. The basic job of a reporter remains news gathering and filing the report or ‘copy’ to the news desk.
Similarly, the basic job of the sub-editor also remains the same; to ‘sub’ copy, to make it fit to print which includes collecting, selecting, arranging, reducing, framing, translating and adapting for publication according to the importance of the copy. Sub-editor is also called copy editor and what he edits is called copy.
Whatever is filed by reporters, special correspondents, etc., is copy for him, whatever comes to the news desk from wire services (news agencies) is also copy.
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Reporting and editing sides are not water-tight compartments. Reporters can exchange places with sub-editors. In many newspapers it is a routine.
A sub-editor is sent on a reporting assignment many a time. He is also asked to write news items from the handouts that land up in the newspaper office when reporters are away.
To be a good reporter or a sub-editor common sense and command over language are needed. These two requirements summarise their qualities, newsmen should have as other qualities flow from these two and the basic human values.