Reporter vs Stringer: Who are the best?

 Have you ever heard the term stringers?, Do you know how they work? How they are hired? I am sure that you must have heard about them but it is possible that you know very little about them. In this blog, we will get to know about them and we will also try to differentiate between a stringer and a reporter.

 

Let us start with stringers, stringers are those who are associated with multiple organizations at a time. They are a kind of reporter who reports news on a commission basis. He/She gets paid as per the news individually whereas reporters or correspondents are associated with an organization and their salary is fixed. One can be a stringer even without any degree from the bestmedia school but a degree/diploma in journalism and masscommunication is a must for a reporter.

 As stringers are freelancers, they do not receive any regular/fixed salary and the amount and type of work are typically voluntary and it fluctuates as well. However, stringers often have an ongoing relationship with one or more news organizations, to which they provide content on particular topics or locations when the opportunities arise.

 Previously, they were paid on 'per inch text published' basis but with the time it changed and now they are being paid as per the news/content. They also earn through 'commission-based advertisement', they collect some local advertisements for newspaper and in the return newspaper organizations pay them a fixed commission per advertisement. Many of the stringers are not full time but they are doing it in their leisure time. Parallelly they run a business or shop or anything else.

 Now, you must be thinking about how they are hired. Let us move to this question now. They are not hired but they contact the news organizations that they want to be 'stringer' for them. As this is a win-win situation for any organization, they don't hesitate in hiring them. I said this win-win situation because they don't have to pay them for free. They have to pay them only when news/content will be brought to their table. So it is a win-win situation, isn't it?

 Whereas reporters study in one of the best media college, they do some internships, then they get placed in some organization with a fixed salary. Nowadays, the culture of the best online media college is also on-trend. So they can do their study from the comfort of their home as well. If you will ask my opinion, I would suggest to go for being a reporter rather than being a stringer. The career of stringers are very uncertain but the reporters' career is too much stable

 

 

All the Best,

Afzaal Ashraf Kamaal

IAAN