There is division of labour in the reporting staff. The units allotted to reporters and special correspondents are called beats.
A reporter may be in-charge of police, crime news or hospital news so the police, crime or hospital will be his beat.
Reporters can have more than one beat. In fact all the government departments, political parties and institutions where news is expected are listed and distributed as beats among the reporting staff.
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The allotted beat is the responsibility of the concerned reporter and he should make arrangements to get all the news from his beat.
If activity is such that he cannot cope with it alone he has to ask the news editor or chief reporter for additional hands, but if he misses something and if it is carried by the rival paper he will come under fire from his superiors.
In his beat the reporter will have to look for his own sources which could be relied on. He cannot be present all the time but he has to be in touch with key persons who inform the press and those who have information and also those who are in decision making capacity.
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Regular contact with these people ensures routine coverage of the beat and may at times help in getting something exclusive which may not appear in any other newspaper. By news which is broken by a reporter is called scoop.
A report cannot have scoops everyday but if he is regular at his beat not to miss a scoop when it is possible to get.