What Does correspondent Mean
Correspondent is the person who, from a foreign country, is in charge of sending current information to a communication medium. 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 about the situation” , “An American correspondent in Libya was wounded by troops loyal to the government” , “I worked eight years as a correspondent in Europe and now I conduct a morning program on international politics ” .
If an Italian television channel sends a journalist to France to permanently reside in the Gallic 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 the journalist who works in a different city than the one that hired him . Although the concept is often used to name correspondents who live abroad, it is also possible to be a correspondent for a medium in a different city in the same country (a Buenos Aires newspaper may have a correspondent in Mendoza ).
It is important to establish that, sometimes, the term correspondent is often confused with that of 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 the one in 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 the journalist who is sent from Spain to Brazil is a special envoy to give information about the Soccer World Cup for several days.
A war correspondent is known as someone who is sent to a war zone to report on the clashes. While war correspondents are expected to have independence to report on opposing armies, it is common for journalists to end up covering actions under the protection and order of one side, due to security concerns or political pressure.
The danger that this media professional faces when covering war conflicts is what makes not all journalists prepared or trained to be war correspondents. Specifically, it is considered that to carry out this job you must have previously prepared 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 many media professionals who were working as correspondents to have died while doing their work or have seen colleagues killed by gunfire by soldiers.