35+ interviewer questions across reporting, accuracy, beats, ethics, and digital skills, each with what a strong answer sounds like, plus a 1-to-5 scorecard and a red-flag checklist. Built for small publishers hiring without an HR department. Download as DOCX.
Almost every reporter hire I have watched go wrong at a small publisher went wrong the same way. The interview graded the writing, because the writing is the part sitting in front of you, and skipped the reporting, because reporting only shows up in questions you have to think to ask. Six weeks later the copy is clean and the story budget is empty.
Clips tell you what a candidate wrote after an editor touched it. They do not tell you who the candidate called, what they pulled, or what they would do the night a source hands them documents they were not supposed to have. Those are interview questions, and most published question lists are written for the candidate rehearsing answers rather than for the employer deciding what to ask.
At FirstHR, we build for owners and managers who hire without an HR department, and small newsrooms are the version of that problem I hear about most. This page gives you 35+ interviewer questions across five competencies, what a strong answer sounds like for each, and a 1-to-5 scorecard with a red-flag checklist you can download and use.
TL;DR
Interview a reporter on five things: reporting and sourcing, accuracy and corrections, beat knowledge and pitching, ethics and editorial judgment, and digital and multimedia skills. Read three clips first, make the candidate reconstruct one of them, run the ethics scenarios, and score every candidate on the same 1-to-5 rubric. Finish with one paid trial assignment.
What to Assess in a Reporter
Assess five things: whether the candidate can find and work sources, whether their facts hold up, whether they generate their own stories, how they exercise judgment when nobody is watching, and how much of the digital job they can do themselves. Writing quality matters, but it is the one thing your clips already answered.
The order matters too. Reporting is the hardest skill to teach and the slowest to discover after a hire, so it goes first. Ethics sits second in importance at a small publisher, because there is no standing legal review behind the reporter, and the owner absorbs the consequences of a bad call made alone in the field.
What you are testing
Why it is worth asking
What a good answer sounds like
Reporting and sourcing
Hardest skill to teach, slowest to detect after hiring
Names records, agencies, and people; describes building a beat over months
Accuracy and corrections
No fact-checking desk stands behind a small-outlet reporter
A named verification routine plus an honest account of a past correction
Beat knowledge and pitching
A reporter who cannot pitch becomes an assignment queue you fill
Three real pitches for your area, with the first phone call already identified
Ethics and judgment
Judgment calls are made alone and land on the owner
Escalates to an editor; separates verification from publication
Digital and multimedia
At a small outlet the reporter is also the photographer and publisher
Names tools and points at published work made with them
None of this requires newsroom experience on your side of the table. It requires knowing which four or five answers actually separate a working reporter from a fluent talker, and asking every candidate for them in the same order.
The Five Question Categories
The questions below are grouped into five competencies plus a scorecard. Each set targets a different failure mode, so a strong candidate should hold up across all of them rather than only in the two categories every reporter has rehearsed.
Reporting and Sourcing
Can they find the story?
How the candidate develops sources, works records, and gets reluctant people to talk. The hardest skill to teach and the first one to test.
Accuracy and Corrections
Will this hold up?
Verification routine, number of independent sources, and how they handle a mistake. At a small outlet the reporter is the fact-checking desk.
Beats, Pitching, and Deadlines
Do they bring ideas?
Whether they generate stories or wait for assignments, how well they know your coverage area, and what they can honestly file each week.
Ethics and Editorial Judgment
What do they do alone?
Scenario questions on leaked documents, anonymity, advertiser pressure, and prepublication review. Judgment calls the owner ends up owning.
Digital and Multimedia
Can they do the whole job?
Photos, video, audio, headlines, publishing systems, and audience data, because at a small outlet the reporter is usually all of those people.
Scorecard and Red Flags
Score, do not guess
A 1-to-5 rubric across seven areas plus a red-flag checklist, so the decision rests on evidence rather than on who interviewed most charmingly.
Weight the Sets to the Job You Are Actually Filling
Daily local coverage: weight reporting, deadlines, and digital. Investigative or long-form: weight records, verification, and ethics heavily. A trade publication or niche B2B outlet: weight beat knowledge and sourcing, since the value is access. Whatever the mix, ask at least two questions from every category, including the ones that feel uncomfortable, and use the same set for every candidate so a structured interview gives you comparable evidence.
35+ Questions and a Scorecard to Download
Download all six as a single Word document, or copy individual sets. Each set states why it matters, lists the questions to ask, describes what a strong answer sounds like, and leaves room for notes. The last file is the scorecard and red-flag checklist.
Download All Questions and the Scorecard
Five question sets by competency plus a 1-to-5 rubric and a red-flag checklist. All in one DOCX.
Set 1: Reporting, Sourcing, and Interviewing
How the candidate finds stories, builds sources on a new beat, works public records, and handles a reluctant or hostile subject. Ask this set first, because it is the part you cannot teach in a quarter.
Reporting, Sourcing, and Interviewing Questions
JOURNALIST / REPORTER INTERVIEW: REPORTING, SOURCING, AND INTERVIEWING
Candidate: __
Publication or beat: __
Interviewer: __
Date: __
WHY THIS SET MATTERS
Reporting is the part of the job you cannot teach quickly. A writer who cannot
find a story, work a source, or get a reluctant person to talk will produce
clean copy about nothing. Ask these first.
QUESTIONS TO ASK
1. Walk me through how you reported one story you are proud of, from the first
tip to the published piece.
2. How do you build a source list on a beat you are new to?
3. Tell me about a source who did not want to talk. How did you get them to?
4. How do you prepare for an interview with someone hostile or evasive?
5. What public records or databases do you use, and what have you pulled from
them?
6. How do you decide whether a tip is worth reporting out?
7. Describe a story you killed or dropped. Why did you drop it?
8. How do you handle a source who asks to go off the record mid interview?
WHAT A STRONG ANSWER SOUNDS LIKE
Specific names of records, agencies, and methods. A real process for building
sources over time rather than calling the same three people. Comfort with
records requests, meeting minutes, court filings, and budgets. On off the
record, a strong candidate sets the terms before the conversation, not after,
and knows that the ground rules have to be agreed to, not declared.
Weak answers stay at the level of "I do a lot of research" with no named
source, no document, and no example.
NOTES
__
__
Set 2: Accuracy, Fact-Checking, and Corrections
The verification routine, how many independent sources they want for a contested fact, and what they did the last time they got something wrong. At a small outlet, the reporter is the fact-checking desk.
Accuracy, Fact-Checking, and Corrections Questions
JOURNALIST / REPORTER INTERVIEW: ACCURACY, FACT-CHECKING, AND CORRECTIONS
Candidate: __
Interviewer: __
Date: __
WHY THIS SET MATTERS
For a small publisher, one bad fact is a legal problem and a credibility
problem at the same time. There is usually no fact-checking desk behind the
reporter, so the reporter is the desk. This set tests whether accuracy is a
habit or an afterthought.
QUESTIONS TO ASK
1. Walk me through how you verify a claim before it goes in a story.
2. How many independent sources do you want before publishing a contested
fact, and when do you make an exception?
3. Tell me about a time you got something wrong. What happened next?
4. How do you handle a correction request from a subject who is angry but
partly right?
5. How do you check a number, a title, or the spelling of a name?
6. What do you do when your best source turns out to be unreliable after
publication?
7. How do you handle AI-generated summaries, transcripts, or research in your
reporting?
WHAT A STRONG ANSWER SOUNDS LIKE
A named routine: read quotes back, confirm titles and spellings against a
primary document, keep recordings and notes, and verify contested claims with
a second independent source. On mistakes, the strong answer is fast and
unglamorous: tell the editor immediately, correct transparently, and explain
what changed in the process afterward.
A candidate who has never made a correction has either not reported much or is
not telling you the truth. What you want is a person who owns it quickly.
NOTES
__
__
Still Using Spreadsheets for Onboarding?
Automate documents, training assignments, task management, and track onboarding progress in real time.
Whether the candidate arrives with stories or waits for assignments, how well they already know your coverage area, and what they can honestly file each week without the quality collapsing.
Beat Knowledge, Pitching, and Deadline Questions
JOURNALIST / REPORTER INTERVIEW: BEAT KNOWLEDGE, PITCHING, AND DEADLINES
Candidate: __
Beat: __
Interviewer: __
WHY THIS SET MATTERS
A reporter who cannot generate their own stories becomes an assignment queue
you have to keep full. At a small outlet nobody has time for that. Test
whether the candidate arrives with ideas and can land them on a deadline.
QUESTIONS TO ASK
1. Pitch me three stories you would report in your first month on this beat.
2. What is the most under-covered story in our coverage area right now?
3. Who are the five people you would call first on this beat, and why those
five?
4. How many stories a week can you file at the quality you just described?
5. Walk me through a day when you had to file breaking news in two hours.
6. How do you keep a long-term investigation moving while filing daily copy?
7. What do you read to stay ahead on this beat?
8. A story you have worked for three weeks falls apart the day before
publication. What do you do?
WHAT A STRONG ANSWER SOUNDS LIKE
Real pitches with a named subject, a reason it matters now, and a first phone
call already identified. A candidate who has read your recent coverage and can
say what is missing from it has told you more about their reporting instincts
than any resume line.
On volume, listen for an honest number tied to story type. Someone who
promises five investigations a week is either inexperienced or guessing.
NOTES
__
__
Set 4: Ethics, Legal Risk, and Editorial Judgment
Scenario questions on leaked documents, anonymity, advertiser pressure, and prepublication review. These are the calls a reporter makes alone, and the ones that reach the owner when they go badly.
Ethics, Legal Risk, and Editorial Judgment Questions
JOURNALIST / REPORTER INTERVIEW: ETHICS, LEGAL RISK, AND EDITORIAL JUDGMENT
Candidate: __
Interviewer: __
Date: __
WHY THIS SET MATTERS
A reporter makes judgment calls alone, in the field, on a deadline. At a small
publisher those calls carry legal and reputational risk that lands directly on
the owner. These are scenario questions on purpose: you are testing judgment,
not policy recall.
QUESTIONS TO ASK
1. A source gives you documents you believe they were not authorized to share.
What do you do?
2. When, if ever, do you grant a source anonymity, and who else has to know
their identity?
3. An advertiser is the subject of a critical story. Walk me through the call
you make.
4. A subject asks to review the article before publication. How do you answer?
5. You cover a beat where you have a personal connection. How do you handle
the conflict?
6. How do you decide whether to name a private individual in a sensitive
story?
7. A quote is accurate but makes the speaker look worse than they meant. What
do you do?
8. What is your practice on recording interviews and on consent to record?
WHAT A STRONG ANSWER SOUNDS LIKE
The strong answer almost always includes the phrase "I would tell my editor."
Escalation is the behavior you are hiring for. Look for a candidate who
separates verification from publication, who treats anonymity as a last resort
with the editor informed, and who never promises prepublication review of an
article while remaining willing to read back specific quotes for accuracy.
On the advertiser question, the only acceptable answer is that the story is
reported the same way and the business side is told, not consulted.
NOTES
__
__
Set 5: Digital, Multimedia, and Audience
Photos, video, audio, headlines, publishing systems, and what they do with audience data. Ask only for the parts your job actually requires, and skip the rest rather than filtering out good reporters.
Digital, Multimedia, and Audience Questions
JOURNALIST / REPORTER INTERVIEW: DIGITAL, MULTIMEDIA, AND AUDIENCE
Candidate: __
Interviewer: __
Date: __
WHY THIS SET MATTERS
At a small outlet the reporter is often also the photographer, the video
producer, the newsletter writer, and the person who posts the story. Ask what
the job actually requires at your shop, and skip the parts it does not.
QUESTIONS TO ASK
1. What do you shoot yourself: photos, video, audio? Show me examples.
2. How do you write a headline that is accurate and still gets read?
3. Which platforms drive readers for a story like ours, and how do you use
them?
4. What metrics do you look at after a story publishes, and what do you do
with them?
5. Walk me through how you would turn one reported story into a print piece, a
newsletter item, and a social post.
6. How do you file from the field with a phone and a bad connection?
7. What is your experience with a content management system, and how quickly
do you learn a new one?
WHAT A STRONG ANSWER SOUNDS LIKE
Concrete tools and concrete output. A candidate who names a camera, an audio
recorder, an editing tool, and a publishing system, and who can point at
published work made with them, is telling you what your first week will look
like.
On metrics, listen for someone who reads audience data as reporting feedback
rather than as a scoreboard. Chasing traffic at the expense of accuracy is a
red flag, and so is refusing to look at the numbers at all.
NOTES
__
__
Set 6: Interview Scorecard and Red Flags
A 1-to-5 rubric across seven areas plus a red-flag checklist, so two people can score the same candidate independently and then compare written evidence. This is the asset most question lists leave out.
Journalist Interview Scorecard and Red Flags (1 to 5 Rubric)
JOURNALIST / REPORTER INTERVIEW SCORECARD
Candidate: __
Interviewer: __
Date: __
Score each area from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent). Write one line of evidence from
the interview or the clips next to every score. A score with no evidence is a
Digital and multimedia skills Score: [ 1 2 3 4 5 ]
Evidence: __
RED FLAGS CHECKLIST
[ ] Cannot name a single source, record, or document from any story
[ ] Has never issued a correction and cannot describe how they would
[ ] Would show an article to a subject before publication
[ ] Would soften a story because the subject advertises with us
[ ] Clips do not match the reporting described in the interview
[ ] Cannot pitch a single story for our coverage area
[ ] Vague or shifting account of why they left the last newsroom
[ ] Refuses to provide editor references
SUMMARY
Total score: ______ / 35
Overall recommendation: [ ] Strong yes [ ] Yes [ ] No [ ] Strong no
Key strengths: __
Key concerns: __
Trial assignment recommended: [ ] Yes [ ] No
Interviewer signature: __
Note: If more than one person interviews, everyone scores independently before
the group talks. Compare written evidence first, then discuss.
Reading Clips and Running a Trial Assignment
Read three clips before the interview and treat them as a source of questions, not as the verdict. A clip shows you the writing after an editor worked on it. The interview is where you find out how much of it was reporting.
Ask the candidate to reconstruct one piece out loud: who did you call, what did you pull, what did the first draft look like. Reporters remember their own stories in detail. A candidate who stays general about work with their own byline on it has told you something important.
Read the clips before the interview
Pick three: the piece they are proudest of, one from the beat you are hiring for, and one filed on a deadline. Read all three, then build your follow-ups from what is actually in them.
Ask who they called
For one clip, ask them to name every source and document behind it. A reporter remembers. Someone who cannot reconstruct their own story either did not do the reporting or did it long ago.
Separate the writing from the editing
A polished clip can be the work of a strong editor. Ask what the piece looked like when they filed it and what the edit changed. Honest candidates answer this easily.
Use a short paid trial assignment
One local story, a real deadline, standard rate. It tells you more than a second interview: sourcing, speed, accuracy, and how they take an edit. Pay for it, always.
Then commission one real story on a real deadline, at your standard rate, for your top one or two candidates only. A paid trial shows sourcing, speed, accuracy, and how the candidate takes an edit, which no second interview will. Never ask for unpaid spec work at a commercial publication.
What to Probe For (and Red Flags)
The listed questions open the door; the follow-ups decide the hire. Push for the specific name, the specific document, the specific outcome, and watch for the patterns that separate a working reporter from someone who is simply good in a room.
Reporting signals
Names sources, records, and agencies without prompting
Describes building a beat over months, not calling three people
Has pulled a document nobody handed them
Accuracy signals
A named verification routine, used every time
Owns a past correction quickly and without drama
Reads quotes back and confirms titles and spellings
Fit-for-your-shop signals
Has read your recent coverage and can critique it
Pitches stories specific to your area, not generic ones
Honest about what they can file each week
Red flags
Would show a story to its subject before publication
Softens coverage of an advertiser
Cannot name a single source behind their own clip
The most useful follow-up in the whole interview is "who did you call?" A reporter answers it immediately, with names and titles. If the answer arrives as a category rather than a person, keep pulling. The interview red flags that matter here are rarely dramatic; they are usually just vagueness that survives three follow-ups.
Three Answers That Decide the Hire
Three questions carry more weight than the rest combined, because each one exposes judgment rather than experience. Here is what a strong and a weak answer sound like for each, so you can score them the same way for every candidate.
A source gives you documents you believe they were not authorized to share.
Strong answer: Tell the editor before doing anything else. Verify the documents independently, assess the newsworthiness and the risk to the source, and decide on publication as a team. A strong answer separates receiving material from publishing it, and never treats the decision as the reporter’s alone.
Weak answer: A weak answer publishes on the strength of the documents alone, or refuses to look at them at all. Both skip the editorial judgment you are hiring for.
A subject asks to see the article before it publishes.
Strong answer: No prepublication review of the article, explained politely and without hedging. A strong candidate offers the standard alternative: reading back specific quotes or technical passages to confirm accuracy. That distinction, accuracy check versus approval, is the whole answer.
Weak answer: A weak answer agrees to send the draft, or gets flustered and says it depends. Sending the draft hands editorial control to the subject, and it is very hard to take back once you have done it once.
You published something wrong. What happened next?
Strong answer: A fast, specific account: noticed or was told, checked it, told the editor the same day, corrected transparently with a note, and changed one thing in the process so it does not recur. Strong reporters tell this story without defensiveness.
Weak answer: A weak answer is that it has never happened, or a long explanation of why it was somebody else’s fault. Neither tells you what they will do the first week they get something wrong for you.
Notice what the strong answers have in common: the reporter tells the editor. At a small publisher you may be the editor, which is the point. You are hiring someone whose instinct under pressure is to bring you in early rather than to decide alone and explain later.
Fair, Legal, and Structured Interviewing
Keep every question tied to the job, ask the same core set of every candidate, and score on a rubric. Those three habits are simultaneously the fair approach, the compliant approach, and the one that produces better hires, which is convenient, because a small publisher only has time for one process.
Ask about the job, not the person
Federal anti-discrimination law, enforced by the EEOC, prohibits basing hiring decisions on protected characteristics, and questions that probe them create legal exposure even when they are asked as small talk. Do not ask about age, race, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy or family plans, disability, or genetic information. Journalism interviews have their own version of the trap, because the conversation naturally drifts toward politics, religion, and personal background as beat context. Keep it on the work: ask how the candidate covers a beat where they hold strong personal views, not what those views are. This is general information, not legal advice.
Ask every candidate the same core questions
A structured interview, where every candidate faces the same questions scored against the same rubric, predicts on-the-job performance better than a free-flowing conversation, and it keeps the decision anchored to job-related evidence rather than rapport. Journalism hiring drifts toward the conversational by instinct, because everyone in the room is good at talking. Write the core set in advance, ask it of everyone, and reserve improvisation for the follow-ups that dig into the answers you just heard. The question sets and scorecard on this page exist to make that easy at a small outlet.
Score independently, then discuss
When an editor and an owner both interview, each should fill in the scorecard alone before the two of them talk. This keeps the more senior or more talkative voice from anchoring the decision, which is how strong candidates get talked out of and weak ones get talked into. Compare the written evidence first, then argue about what it means. A 1-to-5 rubric across reporting, accuracy, story generation, ethics, writing, deadlines, and digital skills turns a conversation about who seemed impressive into a decision you can defend later.
Weight the questions to your actual newsroom
A local news site hiring a one-person city hall bureau and a trade publication hiring a features writer need different reporters, so weight the sets accordingly. If the job is daily local coverage, lean on sourcing, deadlines, and digital. If it is investigative or long-form, weight records, verification, and ethics far more heavily. Be explicit with yourself about what the reporter must deliver in the first 90 days, then ask the questions that test for exactly that instead of interviewing for a generic newsroom job that does not exist at your size.
Same Questions, Scored on a Rubric
A structured interview, where every candidate answers the same questions scored against a consistent rubric, predicts on-the-job performance more reliably than an open-ended conversation, and asking the same job-related questions of everyone also keeps you within the EEOC rules against basing decisions on protected characteristics. Journalism interviews drift conversational by instinct, which is exactly why the written set matters.
The journalism-specific trap is beat talk. Asking a candidate about their politics, faith, or family as context for a beat is still asking about protected characteristics. Ask instead how they would cover a subject they have strong personal views about, which is the job-related version of the same question and a better one. This is general information, not legal advice.
What Reporters Are Paid
Reporter pay spans an unusually wide range, so a single national median is a weak benchmark on its own. Use the percentile ladder instead, and place your role by market and format before you name a number in the interview.
Median $62,200 a Year (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), news analysts, reporters, and journalists had a median annual wage of $62,200, about $29.91 an hour. The lowest 10 percent earned about $36,240 and the highest 10 percent about $144,140, with the 25th percentile near $45,370 and the 75th near $98,450 (BLS OEWS national table).
Local and community outlets cluster in the bottom half of that ladder; national broadcast and specialized business coverage sit at the top. The federal projections are honest about the market too: employment in the occupation is projected to decline over the decade even though thousands of openings appear each year from turnover, according to the Occupational Outlook Handbook.
For a small publisher that has a practical consequence: experienced reporters are available, and the thing that wins them is rarely the top of the range. Beat autonomy, a real editor, published work they are proud of, and a job that does not quietly expect six roles are worth more than the last two thousand dollars of salary.
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Consistent beat coverage week after week
Available for breaking news on short notice
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Cost scales with the number of stories
You control assignment, schedule, and method
Two things to settle before the offer either way. First, worker classification: a freelancer you schedule, direct, and control day to day starts to look like an employee, and the test is the working relationship rather than the label on the invoice. Second, rights: whether the work is created as a work made for hire is a question the U.S. Copyright Office answers narrowly, so put the arrangement in the written agreement rather than assuming it (Circular 30).
Interviewing a Reporter Without HR
At a large newsroom, a reporter candidate meets a recruiter and three editors, and somebody collects the scorecards. At a small publisher the owner does all of that between filing their own copy. Here is how to run the interview so one person with a written set beats four people improvising.
You are the owner, the editor, and the only interviewer
At a large newsroom a reporter candidate meets a recruiter, a beat editor, a managing editor, and a panel, and somebody collects the scorecards afterward. At a small publisher the owner does all of it between filing their own copy. That is exactly what these sets are built for: pick the two or three categories that match the job, ask the same questions of every candidate, and write the evidence down as you go. One person running a structured interview beats four people running unstructured ones.
A reporting mistake lands on you, not on a legal department
A small publisher does not have a standing legal review, so the reporter’s judgment is the control. That is why the ethics and accuracy sets carry as much weight here as the writing sample does. Ask the scenario questions about leaked documents, anonymity, advertiser pressure, and prepublication review, and listen for the candidate who escalates to an editor rather than deciding alone. Also settle the ownership question in writing before day one: whether the work is created as a work made for hire, and what happens to freelance rights, is a contract detail that is cheap to fix now and expensive later.
The interview is step one; the offer and the first 90 days are where it gets real
Once you pick a reporter, the job shifts from evaluating to hiring well: a clear offer, the new hire paperwork, source-protection and ethics policies acknowledged in writing, and a structured first 90 days so the new hire has a beat map and a source list rather than a login and good luck. FirstHR fits that people side for a small publisher: send the offer for e-signature, run the paperwork and onboarding workflow, and keep the signed ethics policy and interview records on the employee profile. FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a content management system or a payroll provider, so pair it with those. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
One more step that small publishers skip and should not: check references with former editors specifically, and ask about accuracy, deadlines, and how the candidate handled being edited. Editors give straighter answers about reporters than general references do about anyone.
From Interview to Hire
The interview is step one. Once you choose, the work becomes hiring well: a clear offer letter, the ethics and corrections policies signed alongside it, the standard new hire paperwork, and a first 90 days that hands the reporter a beat map instead of a login.
Build the question set
Choose the categories that match the beat and the format, and use the same core questions for every candidate so the comparison is fair.
Run a paid trial assignment
One real story on a real deadline, at your standard rate. Sourcing, speed, accuracy, and how they take an edit all show up in a single piece.
Send the offer and the policies
Confirm the role, pay, and rights in writing, and have the ethics, corrections, and source-protection policies signed with the offer.
Onboard the beat, not just the job
Give the new reporter a beat map, an introduction to key sources, and a clear first 90 days so the first byline arrives quickly.
FirstHR connects the offer, the e-signature, the paperwork, and the onboarding workflow in one place, and stores the signed ethics policy and interview records on the employee profile, so a small publisher can run hiring through onboarding from a single system. FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a content management system or a payroll provider, so pair it with those. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Assess a reporter on reporting and sourcing, accuracy, story generation, ethics, and digital skills, not on clips alone.
Read three clips before the interview and make the candidate reconstruct one: who they called and what they pulled.
Ask the ethics scenarios out loud; the answer you want almost always includes telling the editor first.
Treat prepublication review of an article and softening coverage of an advertiser as disqualifying answers.
Use the same core questions for every candidate and score seven areas on a 1-to-5 rubric with written evidence.
Finish with one paid trial assignment on a real deadline, and never ask for unpaid spec work.
Benchmark pay against the BLS median of $62,200 a year for news analysts, reporters, and journalists (May 2025).
Frequently Asked Questions
What questions should I ask a journalist or reporter in an interview?
Ask questions that test five areas: reporting and sourcing, accuracy and corrections, beat knowledge and story generation, ethics and editorial judgment, and digital and multimedia skills. The strongest openers are specific rather than general: walk me through one story from the first tip to publication, how do you build a source list on a new beat, tell me about a time you got something wrong and what happened next, and pitch me three stories you would report in your first month here. Ethics scenarios matter as much as craft questions at a small outlet, because the reporter makes judgment calls alone in the field. Ask what they would do with documents a source was not authorized to share, and how they answer a subject who asks to read the article before publication. This page groups 35+ questions by exactly these competencies, each with a note on what a strong answer sounds like.
How do I evaluate a reporter if I have never worked in a newsroom?
Judge process and evidence rather than prose. Read three clips before the interview, then ask the candidate to reconstruct one of them: who did you call, what documents did you pull, what did the piece look like before the edit. A reporter who did the work remembers the sources and the records; someone who did not will stay general. Then listen for a named verification routine, an honest account of a past correction, and a real pitch for your coverage area rather than a generic story idea. Those four signals separate a working reporter from a good talker without requiring newsroom experience on your side. Finish with a short paid trial assignment on a real deadline, which shows sourcing, speed, accuracy, and how the candidate takes an edit better than any second interview will.
What is the difference between a journalist and a reporter?
In practice the titles overlap, and most job postings use them interchangeably. Journalist is the broader term covering anyone who gathers, verifies, and presents news, including editors, columnists, photojournalists, and producers. Reporter is narrower and usually means the person doing original newsgathering on a beat or an assignment: calling sources, attending meetings, pulling records, and filing stories. The federal occupational classification groups them together as news analysts, reporters, and journalists. For hiring purposes the distinction that actually matters is the job, not the title: decide whether you need original reporting on a beat, editing and packaging of other people’s work, or both, and write the questions to test for the one you are paying for.
How do I test a reporter’s accuracy and fact-checking in an interview?
Ask for the routine, then ask for the failure. First, walk me through how you verify a claim before it goes into a story, and how many independent sources you want for a contested fact. A strong answer names concrete steps: read quotes back, confirm titles and spellings against a primary document, keep recordings and notes, and get a second independent source for anything disputed. Second, tell me about a time you got something wrong. A candidate who claims they never have either has not reported much or is not being straight with you. What you want is a fast, unglamorous account: told the editor the same day, corrected transparently, and changed one thing in the process afterward. At a small publisher there is no fact-checking desk behind the reporter, so this habit is the whole control.
What are red flags in a reporter interview?
The clearest red flags are a candidate who would show an article to its subject before publication, one who would soften a story because the subject advertises with you, and one who cannot name a single source or document behind their own published clip. Add a few more: never having issued a correction and being unable to describe how they would, clips that do not match the reporting described in the interview, an inability to pitch even one story for your coverage area, a vague or shifting account of why they left the last newsroom, and refusal to provide editor references. Chasing traffic at the expense of accuracy is a warning sign, and so is refusing to look at audience data at all. The downloadable scorecard on this page includes this red-flag checklist so you can mark them as they come up.
Should I give a reporter candidate a writing test or trial assignment?
Yes, and it should be a real assignment with a real deadline, paid at your standard rate. A one-story trial reveals what an interview cannot: whether the candidate can find sources cold, whether they file on time, whether the copy is accurate, and how they respond to an edit. Keep it small, a single local story rather than an investigation, and set the deadline you would set for staff. Pay for it every time. Unpaid spec work for a commercial publication is a fairness problem and it also narrows your candidate pool to people who can afford to work for free, which is the opposite of what a small outlet needs. Treat the trial as the final round for your top one or two candidates, not as a screening step for everyone who applies.
What questions are illegal to ask in a journalist interview?
Avoid any question that probes characteristics protected under federal law, which the EEOC enforces: age, race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy or family plans, disability, or genetic information. In a journalism interview the risk is higher than usual because the conversation drifts naturally toward politics, religion, and personal background as beat context. Keep it on the work: you may ask how a candidate handles covering a beat where they hold strong personal views, but not what those views are, and you may ask whether they can perform the essential functions of the job and whether they are legally authorized to work. Asking the same job-related questions of every candidate is the simplest way to stay both fair and consistent. This is general information, not legal advice.
How much does a reporter cost to hire?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), news analysts, reporters, and journalists had a median annual wage of $62,200, about $29.91 an hour. The spread is wide: the lowest 10 percent earned about $36,240 and the highest 10 percent about $144,140, with the 25th percentile near $45,370 and the 75th near $98,450. Local and community outlets sit toward the lower end of that range, while national broadcast and specialized business coverage sit at the top. Benchmark against your market and the format you need, and remember that a full-time staff reporter costs the salary plus payroll taxes, benefits, equipment, and mileage, while a freelancer is paid per piece and only when commissioned. Many small publishers run a small staff plus a freelance bench.
