Resume template · Updated October 2026
Journalist and news reporter resume template
Short answer
Catalyst suits a journalist or news reporter whose current beat and best work carry the application: it skips the summary and opens on the latest job. The fictional sample covers courts and public safety for a regional daily, with a public records investigation, a data series built with the data editor and a short list of selected stories, after three years at a small-town paper.
Download the journalist sample
Owen is a fictional reporter. Replace every detail with your own before you send it.
The files are made in your browser by Resumity's own exporters, from this sample. The builder opens it as your own resume: click any line to replace it. Free plan, no watermark.
Why Catalyst suits a journalist resume
Catalyst prints no summary and opens on your current job, so an editor meets your outlet, beat and strongest story first. The large left-aligned name and teal headings look confident without decoration, and the selected stories list prints at the end of the page, after education, where it reads as a menu of clips.
Second choice: Leslie. Leslie adds a summary under a centred blue header; choose it when you are changing beats or coming from another career and need a few lines of framing.
What goes in each section, in Catalyst's order
Catalyst prints its sections in a fixed order, the same in the PDF and the Word file. Here is that order for this sample, and what to put in each section.
- Work Experience. Outlet, beat and output for each job (stories a year, platforms), then your best work as results: a records fight won, a policy changed after publication, an award. Name the editor or team on data and investigative work you shared.
- Skills. Reporting methods on the first row (records requests, court research, data, interviewing), tools on the second: spreadsheets, SQL, Datawrapper, the CMS, video editing. Catalyst prints this after experience, so keep it to what the posting asks for.
- Education. Degree, school and year. In the first few years, a student newspaper editor role can go in the detail line.
- Selected stories. Three to five selected stories with headline, form (series, feature, investigation) and year. The full clip file belongs at the portfolio link in the header.
The sample resume as text
The same content as the files above, so you can copy a line or compare it with your own.
Owen Fitzpatrick
Reporter, Courts and Public Safety
Kansas City, MO | owen.fitzpatrick@example.com | (816) 555-0152 | portfolio.example.com/owen-fitzpatrick | linkedin.com/in/sample-owen-fitzpatrick
Experience
Reporter, Courts and Public Safety, Missouri Valley Ledger, Kansas City, MO (05/2021 to Present)
- Cover courts, police and the county jail for a regional daily and its website, filing about 180 stories a year.
- Used public records requests and court filings to show the jail held about 300 people past their release dates; the county changed its release process after the series ran.
- Built a database of about 4,000 police use-of-force reports with the data editor, the basis for a five-part series.
- Report live from breaking scenes on social media and file a first web version within an hour.
- Mentor two summer interns each year on court records and deadline writing.
Reporter, Prairie Hollow Courier, Emporia, KS (08/2018 to 04/2021)
- Covered city hall, schools and county government in a newsroom of seven.
- Wrote about four stories a week and took most of the photos for them.
- Started a weekly local government newsletter that grew to about 6,000 subscribers.
Selected stories
- Held Past Release: three-part series on jail release delays, 2024
- Force on File: five-part data series on police use of force, 2023
- The Last Bus: feature on a rural transit route cut, 2020
Education
BA, Journalism, Heartland State University (05/2018). Managing editor, student newspaper
Skills
Public records requests, Court records research, Data reporting, Interviewing, Breaking news, AP style, Google Sheets, SQL, Datawrapper, Arc XP, Adobe Premiere Rush, Building sources, Fast, clean copy
How to make the sample yours
Reorder the stories for the desk
Applying to a statehouse bureau? Lead the selected list with government work. A features desk wants range and voice; an investigations team wants records and data.
Show impact without overclaiming
Write what followed publication ("the county changed its release process") and leave out "caused" or "forced".
Count every platform you produce for
Newsletters, live video, audio, social threads: give one figure for each format you actually make.
Group freelance clips
Put freelance work under one entry with dates and the outlets named, then bullets by story.
Mirror the posting's title
Reporter, correspondent, journalist and staff writer are used loosely. Use the posting's title in your headline and keep your real titles in the job entries.
Keywords to keep where they are true
Terms this kind of resume is usually searched for. Use the posting's exact wording, and only for work you have done.
- journalism
- news reporting
- investigative reporting
- public records requests
- data journalism
- breaking news
- AP style
- interviewing
- source development
- fact-checking
- multimedia storytelling
- content management system
- beat reporting
- deadline writing
Mistakes to avoid
- A list of every story you wrote; editors want the best three.
- Clip links that are paywalled or broken; test each one before sending.
- Calling yourself an investigative reporter without a records-based story to show.
- Taking sole credit for a team investigation.
How the sample PDF reads in text extractors
We exported this sample with Resumity's PDF exporter in Chrome on 2026-10-29 and read the file back with three open-source text extractors. This shows whether software that turns a PDF into text can recover it; it is not a test of any commercial applicant tracking system. How we test templates.
| Extractor | Name, email, phone | Headings | Bullets intact |
|---|---|---|---|
| pdf.js 4.10.38 | All found | 4 of 4 | 8 of 8 |
| pdftotext (Xpdf) 4.00 | All found | 4 of 4 | 8 of 8 |
| pypdf 6.13.0 | All found | 4 of 4 | 8 of 8 |
Frequently asked questions
How many clips should a journalist resume include?
Three to five on the page, chosen for the job, plus a full clip file on a portfolio site. Many applications also ask for clips separately, so have links ready.
Is a news reporter resume different from a journalist resume?
Not much. Reporter roles weigh daily output and breaking news; broader journalist roles may also want editing, audio or video. Adjust the first two bullets and the selected stories rather than the layout.
Where do awards go?
In the bullet for the story that won them, or after the headline in the selected stories list. A separate awards section is only worth it if you have several.
Do I need a journalism degree?
No. Reporters come from many degrees; strong clips and a student, freelance or local paper record carry the application.
How do I move from print to digital or broadcast?
Show what you already do on other platforms (video, newsletters, live social coverage, audio) in the first bullet of your current job, with numbers.
Will applicant tracking systems read this Catalyst PDF?
The sample PDF read back with its contact details, all 4 section headings and all 8 bullets intact in three open-source text extractors (pdf.js, pdftotext and pypdf). Commercial systems such as Workday, Greenhouse or Taleo were not tested, and each employer configures its own.
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