How Much Does a Broadcast Journalist Make?

Series Summary

A news anchor, also known as a news presenter, newscaster or newsreader, is a person who presents the news via television, radio or the Internet. Though most of the news has been prepared, news anchors sometimes are required to improvise for live reports. News anchors are also responsible for conducting field research and interviews. News careers hold the responsibility of sharing important information with the rest of the world. In this free video series on television jobs, an award-winning former TV news anchor discusses the careers in the news media industry. Understand the job responsibilities of news anchors and broadcast journalists, and find out exactly what they do on a day-to-day basis. Learn how to get a foot in the door to become a reporter, and even get and idea of the salary options for many in the field. Start a news job, which can be very competitive, using this helpful career guide.

Video Transcript

"I'm Glenn Selig and I spent twenty years as a broadcast journalist and now I am CEO of Selig Multimedia. People want to know how much does a broadcast journalist make. Well that's a really big question because it really runs the gamut. First of all it depends on the type of job that you have as a broadcast journalist. A producer sounds like a really big job doesn't it? A producer in charge of the stories, in charge of a newscast, but a producer generally does not make as much money as somebody who is on camera, such as a reporter or a news anchor. Those people generally make a lot more money than a news producer does. But it really runs the gamut depending on the market size. Market is defined by a small city or a large city, so, if you're a broadcast journalist in Los Angeles let's say, no matter what job you have you're going to be making a lot more money than if you're a broadcast journalist in Topeka, Kansas for example. And depending on the size of that city, will be how much that disparity is. So in a large market like Los Angeles, you might have some people who are making seventy or eighty thousand dollars as a broadcast journalist all the way up into the millions of dollars as a broadcast journalist. But if you're talking about Topeka, Kansas it may be only five or ten thousand dollars that separates the bottom job from the top job. And that's how much it takes and how much you make as a broadcast journalist. I'm Glenn Selig."