reporter

American  

[ri-pawr-ter, -pohr-] / rɪˈpɔr tər, -ˈpoʊr- /

noun

• reporters
  plural

1. a person who reports.

2. a person employed to gather and report news, as for a newspaper, wire service, or television station.

3. a person who prepares official reports, as of legal or legislative proceedings.

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reporter British  

/ rɪˈpɔːtə /

noun

1. a person who reports, esp one employed to gather news for a newspaper, news agency, or broadcasting organization

2. a person, esp a barrister, authorized to write official accounts of judicial proceedings

3. a person authorized to report the proceedings of a legislature

4. social welfare an official who arranges and conducts children's panel hearings and who may investigate cases and decide on the action to be taken

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• reporters
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of reporter

1350–1400; Middle English reportour < Anglo-French ( Old French reporteur ). See report, -er ¹

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Explanation

A reporter is a journalist who goes out and gets the scoop on the news and informs the rest of us. If there’s a news conference or a train crash, a reporter is probably there getting the lowdown. If you want to be a reporter one day, you might study journalism in college, learning to write accurate and informative stories. Many reporters research, write, and edit articles about politics or current events, but you could also be a pop culture reporter or a tech reporter. The newspaper sense of reporter dates from 1798 — earlier it simply meant "one who gives an account."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

reporter reporters

I asked Joe, the Journal’s media and entertainment reporter based in the Los Angeles bureau, to put these cuts into context.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

“Getting behind the podium is tough, but she got off on the wrong foot,” an administration official texted an MS NOW reporter after Zacharia’s debut.

From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2026

When asked by a reporter on Tuesday in which state she passed the bar exam, Zacharia said, “When I moved to China,” without elaborating.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Hokkaido Shimbun ran a report on the arrest without naming the reporter, but did not comment further on the incident.

From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026

That’s why they make up stories about me—one reporter even made up my name, and called me Alexander!!

From "Nim’s Island" by Wendy Orr

In Paris, police fired a water cannon and teargas after hundreds of protesters, most wearing face masks and some setting off fireworks, confronted them at several locations, AFP reporters saw.

From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2026

“No satisfactory answers were provided,” the head of the German soccer federation Bernd Neuendorf told reporters.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026

Two people were in critical condition, San Diego Fire-Rescue Assistant Fire Chief Brian Raines told reporters at the scene.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

He also said he was a "shocked and disgusted" the party had been "infiltrated" by the reporters.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

“No amount of bombing can end the war,” an exhausted-looking McNamara told a few reporters in an off-the-record discussion in February.

From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin

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Related Words

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