6 Important Types of Beats in Journalism (2024)

6 Important Types of Beats in Journalism

There are various Types of Beats in Journalism. Before saying anything let us for clear the difference between types and beats. Types in journalism mean different fields of journalism that are independent of each other generally, they use different pedagogy and research methods, for e.g. Investigative Journalism, Feature Writing Column Writing, etc. While beats can be called subsets of different types of journalism, A beat in journalism means going in-depth in any type of journalism, for e.g. Business Magazines, Politics, Finance, Weather, Entertainment, TV Network Schedules, Sports News, Local News Resources, Government Directories, Horoscopes, Money, Personal Health Site, PR Newswires, Social Media and much more. The term ‘beat’ is referred to as the way or road taken by an individual on a regular basis. In journalism, the word ‘Beat’ is also referred to as the niche which is appointed to the reporter.

The journalist has an art of conveying in various forms. There are numerous types of Beats in Journalism which we will try to study in this blog. Some reporting techniques are more popular in a particular field than the rest. The role of the reporter is to deliver the news, show the story according to their perspective and observations, give us the insights, comment on it and to submit the report of the issues on the given period of time. Here are 6 types of popular beats are given as follows:

6 Types of Beats in Journalism

1. Political Reporting

Political Journalism is a very prolific and very broad branch of journalism. This beat includes coverage of all aspects of politics and its political science. Many people opt for this kind of journalism, it requires a lot of courage and diplomatic smartness. Although the term usually refers specifically to coverage of civil governments and political power.

Read Related Blog: Political Reporting and Its Vitality

2. Food Reporting

Food is a kind of industry which can never be outsourced. Food lovers always try to discover new food places near their areas. The job of the beat reporter in this field is to remind people about what’s cooking in the local restaurants or any new opening of the outlets of famous restaurants. The reporter tries to connect with the audience by doing advertising and discovering the likes and dislikes in the food preference of the people.

3. Education Reporting

These days many reporters are trying to concentrate on Education reporting which focuses on young people. For the reporters, educational stories are easy to cover which includes exam scores, campus stories, and sports. They can also cover the safety regulations of the students or underpaid teachers in an academy. For example, in India, the reporter announces the results of entrance or final results of schools and colleges.

4. Health Reporting

It is one of the newsworthy issues these days. In today’s generation, many individuals have started to focus on their health. The reporter covers topics like malnutrition, disease, healthcare, pediatric care, nutrition, fitness, growing epidemics and much more. Reports mainly try to focus on prevention of the serious ailment or disease and for that, he must have great knowledge about that field and provide us with the insights.

Read Related Blog: Important Points to Remember While Health Beat Reporting

5. Sports Reporting

This reporting may seem cool for the audience but they don’t know the hard work and sweat the reporter has to put to provide information to all the viewers. Reporters can cover information about hockey, football as well as cricket tournaments held all around the globe.

6. Entertainment Reporting

This is one of the famous reporting where the journalist tries to reveal the juicy gossip of the glamorous people in the world. But it is not an easy job. The reporter has to wait for hours for the appearance of the celebrities. Entertainment reporting takes interviews, reviews of music and films and much more. There are many more types of beats in journalism but these six are one of the famous of all.

Above mentioned are some of the top Beats in Journalism but there are many Different Types of Beats in Journalism which is mentioned below.

Civic Reporting

It is a type of reporting which covers citizen's wellness. This type of reporting is not just normal news but that makes the audience think. The purpose of this type of reporting is to make a difference by public awareness.

Infrastructure Reporting

In the world of globalization, rapid infrastructure development is a must. The beat, who reports infrastructure reporting collects information about all infrastructural sites like Railway Stations, Airports, Government infrastructure and makes the audience aware of it.

Crime Reporting

Crime reporting is one of the most famous reporting in the industry. All audiences consume crime news in one or another way means the audience is big and that is why this segment of reporting requires all details before getting published. All crimes are included in this reporting.

Environmental Reporting

All modern-day activities like globalization and digitization have their impact on the environment. From the Ozone layer to Deforestation environmental reporting includes all. It makes public awareness about what is going on in the environment.

Investigate Reporting

This type of reporting demands the beat to be sharp and dedicated because it takes too much effort to open up facts and stories about investigation. But if the beat completes any investigation completely, it can give good recognition and fame.

Lifestyle Reporting

In the era of social media, the audience will always be interested in what is going on in the latest trend and what is in fashion. This reporting includes news/stories about the latest fashion/fitness trends and other trending stuff.

Business Reporting

All news related to trade/business falls under this category. Import/Export, Goods, Trade, Market, Stock Exchange and other news that are related to business attracts a large set of people and that is why this type of reporting is one of the most famous reporting in current time.

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