Also called: Standards and Ethics Editor, Public Editor
Sets and enforces a news outlet's rules on accuracy, fairness, and corrections, and makes tough calls like using anonymous sources or graphic images.
A standards editor gets a call from a reporter who wants to use an anonymous source and decides whether it meets the newsroom's rules. Later they write a correction for an online story, update the policy on using AI tools, and answer an angry reader's complaint.
Approximate; found only at large newsrooms.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in journalism or English plus many years as a reporter and editor.
Ways in: 4-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Journalism, English, Political Science.
Growing slowly. Few positions; newsrooms keep shrinking.
Low risk for 10 years. Ethics calls, trust, and accountability are human judgments, including setting rules for newsroom AI use.
Classes: Journalism, Government or civics, English.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.