How To Become A News Editor: What It Is and Career Path

What is a news editor and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Expert

Bradley Shreve

News editors are in charge of the news content of each edition. They review and modify the content provided by writers and other contributors before publication. They earn a median salary of $43,000 annually or $21 per hour.

News editors are tasked with verifying facts, ensuring that the content is readable and satisfying, checking for plagiarism, and grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors. Basically, they manage the overall production of a newspaper and decide the stories that are worthy to be read and assigned to reporters. They are true professionals with creative minds and an eye for detail. They possess solid interpersonal skills and have good judgment.

News editors mostly hold a bachelor's degree in journalism or other liberal arts field. However, a master's degree in journalism is required for some jobs and some years of experience from working as an intern, a part-time reporter, or in any other related field is an added advantage.

What general advice would you give to a News Editor?

Bradley Shreve

Editor, Tribal College Journal

Be flexible. An undergraduate degree in history offers a solid liberal arts background, but not a skill set that is finely tuned for most jobs. Think outside the box, and understand that the job you land probably won't be in the history profession.

ScoreNews EditorUS Average

Salary

4.2

Avg. Salary $53,822

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.7

Growth Rate -5%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.27%

Asian 7.30%

Black or African American 3.60%

Hispanic or Latino 8.18%

Unknown 4.59%

White 76.06%

Gender

female 46.49%

male 53.51%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress Level

6.7

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

9.0

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

4.3

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a news editor

Explore news editor education requirements

Most common news editor degrees

Bachelor's

81.1 %

Master's

7.8 %

Associate

7.4 %

Start to develop specific news editor skills

Skills	Percentages
News Stories	9.84%
News Coverage	8.11%
Instagram	7.67%
Twitter	7.17%
SEO	6.99%

Complete relevant news editor training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New news editors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a news editor based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real news editor resumes.

Research news editor duties and responsibilities

Manage the day-to-day production of the Olympics section as needed.
Manage online web CMS, updating metadata, optimizing SEO, editing HTML/CSS, and directing UX/UI updates.
Manage content on various CMS systems, including HTML coding and training numerous staff members on various CMS systems.
Maintain editorial calendar, manage freelance budget and coordinate with photo editor and designers to help ensure optimal presentation of stories.

Prepare your news editor resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your news editor resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a news editor resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable News Editor Resume templates

Build a professional News Editor resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your News Editor resume.

Apply for news editor jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a news editor job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do news editors rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

News Editor reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Sep 2019

Pros

Every day was different, you meet a lot of new people, the events covered could be very exciting

Cons

Physically demanding, low pay and part time positions available to those just starting out, no health insurance, competitive, pressure to be available on call despite terms of contract

A zippia user wrote a review on Feb 2019