A correspondent is a journalist sent to a place other than his own to cover an event.
Correspondent is the person who, from a foreign country, is responsible for sending current information to a media outlet . The correspondent must cover the news that occurs in the territory where he has been assigned and send the material to the newspaper, radio or TV channel that hired him.
For example: "We are going to contact our correspondent in the Middle East to tell us how the situation is," "An American correspondent in Libya was injured by troops loyal to the government," "I worked eight years as a correspondent in Europe and now I drive a morning international politics program » .
Work of a correspondent
If an Italian television channel sends a journalist to France to reside permanently in the French country and be in charge of informing the medium about local news, it can be said that this reporter is a correspondent for the channel in question in France .
A correspondent, in short, is a journalist who works in a city different from that of the media outlet that hired him or her . Although the concept is usually used to name correspondents who live abroad, you can also be a correspondent for a media outlet in a different city in the same country (a newspaper in Buenos Aires can have a correspondent in Mendoza ).
Differences with the special envoy
It is important to establish that, sometimes, the term correspondent is often confused with the term special envoy , but it must be made clear that they are different professionals.
Thus, the first, as we have explained, is the journalist who habitually resides in a country other than that of the medium for which he works. On the other hand, the special envoy is the reporter that a television, radio or newspaper sends to another city or nation so that, at a specific moment, they cover an important event that has taken place or is going to take place. Thus, once this event or fact has concluded, you will return to the place where you live.
In this way, for example, we can say that a special envoy is the journalist who is sent from Spain to Brazil to provide information about a sports tournament for several days, to mention one possibility.
The job of a correspondent can have different characteristics.
war correspondent
A war correspondent is known as someone who is sent to a war zone to report on the fighting. Although war correspondents are expected to have independence in reporting on opposing armies, it is common that, for security reasons or political pressure, journalists end up covering actions under the protection and order of one side.
The danger that this media professional faces when covering war conflicts is what means that not all journalists are prepared or trained to be war correspondents. Specifically, it is considered that to carry out this job you must have previously prepared yourself physically and psychologically, you must be aware that you will be in danger at all times and that you must be willing to risk your life.
The complexity of this journalistic work has led to many media professionals who were working as correspondents dying while doing their job or seeing colleagues killed by soldiers.