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Career Spotlight: Assignment Editor

By NBCU Academy

What does an assignment editor do? A longtime assignment manager for NBC4 Washington shares how his team covers breaking news.

At the heart of every newsroom is an assignment desk, where assignment editors figure out what news stories to cover around the clock. They make constant phone calls, listen to police radios and sift through emails to get news tips and background information from officials and the public. They contribute to editorial meetings with reporters, editors and producers. But breaking news can rewrite coverage plans at any point of the day.  

Charlie Bragale, an assignment manager who has worked at WRC-TV in Washington since 1988, has seen many changes in technology , but his assignment desk has always been crucial to newsgathering. He calls his assignment editors “off-air reporters,” talking to sources and conveying updates to news crews and production staff.  

“I compare the assignment editor to a flight controller. I’m trying to land five 747s, a couple of A380s and a couple 737s in a blinding rainstorm,” Bragale said. “100% of my day is talking on the phone, networking with people, trying to get people to talk to me and check in.” 

Bragale talks about the work of an assignment editor in the video above and shares more remarks below.  

What are some tips to being a good assignment editor?

Be curious, be a risk taker and instinctively know what you’re doing right. You see something, go chase after it. We don’t run away from bad news or good news — we run towards everything. 

Success is collaborating with everybody.  We’re just a cog in the wheels of what we do every day. Collaboration is key.  

Your workspace is surrounded by walkie-talkies tuned in to a bunch of police and emergency medical scanners. Isn’t it confusing to listen to all that at once?

Don’t be intimidated by this. This is just white noise. Just listen for keywords, the intensity in the voice, the impact of the event. 

What are some memorable stories you worked on?

I covered a guy who pulled out an AR-15 and shot up the front of the White House [in October 1994] — that was a [Saturday] afternoon, we were running AFC football.  

The phone rings, a guy with a heavy accent says, “Do you speak Portuguese?” And I was like, “Yes, I’m from Brazil.” A Brazilian tourist, videotaping the White House with his family, captured the moment that guy shot at the White House. Back then, we had no cellphones, so I sent a courier to pick him up and look at the video. One of my colleagues ran over, grabbed the video and took it downstairs. They broke into AFC football to show the guy shooting the White House — that’s how important it was.  

[On 9/11,] we knew about the planes that struck the World Trade Center. But then I heard a plane hit the Pentagon. I heard that officer, the chill in his voice — we knew it was [a related attack]. We were ready, directing people everywhere, because we knew Washington.

You’ve worked at the same assignment desk for 36 years. What keeps you going?

This is gonna sound mushy, but I grew up here in Washington, two blocks from the TV station. As a child riding my bike through this park, past Channel 4 to the Catholic school on Massachusetts Avenue, I would always tell my brothers, “One day, I’m going to work at that place.” To represent the community and work at this incredible organization, in my job which I love, is an honor. 

Gallery: Scenes from Charlie Bragale’s Career

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What Does an Assignment Editor Do?

Learn About the Salary, Required Skills, & More

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Assignment Editor Salary

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An assignment editor works at the assignment desk, which is the nerve center of any newsroom. This is where newsroom staff members monitor multiple sources for breaking news, including police and fire scanners. When possible news arises, the assignment editor works with reporters, photographers, producers, and other staff members to assign and develop story ideas.

Small companies sometimes have one assignment editor who is responsible for organizing the assignment desk to operate around the clock. In larger newsrooms, there may be a team of assignment editors that take turns staffing the desk.

Assignment Editor Duties & Responsibilities

The job generally requires the ability to perform the following duties:

• Monitor multiple sources for possible news stories
• Develop and propose a daily news coverage plan
• Lead newsroom staff meetings to review possible stories and assignments
• Help choose which journalists, photographers, and other staff members are assigned to cover stories
• Stay on top of all stories to ensure they're developing as planned and determine which ones are not coming together
• Be the main point of communication between reporters, production teams, and executive staff on developing stories

It's up to the assignment editor to assign people to investigate and report on news stories. The assignment editor's day is sometimes spent shifting people and equipment around so that as many stories get covered as possible, with an eye out on how to handle breaking news coverage at any moment.

When working in television, an assignment editor may also work with the tv producer to decide which crews will take live trucks or a helicopter to broadcast live during a newscast. Also, a TV news anchor who is reviewing scripts just before airtime will often turn to the assignment editor to confirm facts.

An assignment editor's salary can vary depending on location, experience, and employer. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics offers salary data for the broader editor category, but it doesn't offer separate data on the assignment editor subcategory:

• Median Annual Salary: $59,480 
• Top 10% Annual Salary: $114,460 
• Bottom 10% Annual Salary: $30,830  

Education, Training, & Certification

Most assignment editors have the same types of degrees as other editors and journalists in a newsroom.

• Education: Most employers prefer candidates that have at least a bachelor’s degree in communications, journalism, or English. 
• Experience: This is often key to getting this type of job, because experience is key to building a list of contacts and learning how to operate smoothly. Employers usually prefer candidates with a background in the type of media in which they specialize, whether it's television, digital, or print news.
• Training: Most training happens on the job. Aspiring assignment editors may want to find an internship position at a newsroom assignment desk.

Assignment Editor Skills & Competencies

To be successful in this role, you’ll generally need the following skills and qualities: 

• Editorial judgment: Assignment editors need to be able to quickly decide whether a story is newsworthy. And although they aren't usually writing the stories themselves, they need to know all of the components of a good news story to guide reporters on coverage.
• Interpersonal skills: Successful assignment editors form relationships with many contacts that can help bring a story together. For example, someone in this role at a local TV news station may have all the county sheriffs' home telephone numbers on speed-dial and be on a first-name basis with the current and previous mayors.
• Organizational skills: An assignment editor must be able to organize the logistics and track the details of several stories at a time and keep everything on schedule.
• Communication skills: An assignment editor must skillfully communicate with all of the staff involved in making news stories come together, including reporters, photographers, production teams, and executive staff.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment in this field will grow 6 percent through 2026, which is slightly slower than the overall employment growth of 7 percent for all occupations in the country. The BLS it doesn't offer separate data on the assignment editor subcategory.

Most of this job is done in an office working under several tight deadlines at once. Those who thrive on pressure and get an adrenaline rush when something unexpected happens may be best suited for this occupation.

An assignment editor usually arrives in the newsroom earlier than the other managers to get a handle on what's happening that day to brief the newsroom. Most assignment editors work full time, and many work long hours, which include evenings and weekends.

People who are interested in becoming assignment editors may also consider other careers with these median salaries: 

• Writers and authors: $61,820
• Reporters, correspondents, and broadcast news analysts: $40,910
• Desktop publishers: $42,350

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics , 2017

How to Get the Job

Build a Contact List

Making a list of contacts is the best place to start for a budding assignment editor. That involves making personal connections with people so that you can turn to them when you need information.

Join a Professional Association

The American Media Institute offers  a list of professional associations you can join. Which one you choose may depend on your specialty or medium (websites or television, for instance). This will help you build your contact list and stay up to date on the latest tools and techniques in the industry.

Search job sites that specialize in media careers, such as MediaBistro and iHire Broadcasting .

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It’s important to never stop chasing your dreams, from the editor's desk.

Since I was young, I’ve been taught to chase my dreams. So, that’s what I’ve always done.

It led me to change my major from exercise science to journalism at Slippery Rock University. It led me to move across the country to Arizona to pursue my first job in the field while making just enough money to keep a roof over my head. Then, it led me to Arizona State University, where I obtained my master’s degree in sports journalism.

I never stopped dreaming.

At every stop in my journalism career, I’ve always had the goal of covering professional sports in the back of my head. Whether that was baseball, football, soccer or basketball, that’s what my eye has always been set on. While it was further out of sight at some points of my career than others, I always knew that all I needed was an opportunity.

Well, that opportunity begins Monday.

This past week was my last week as editor of the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator newspapers. I will start living my dream next week as I will be covering the Pittsburgh Steelers for a company in Pittsburgh.

When I was a kid, I always loved watching SportsCenter as Chris Berman delivered one animated line after another or as Stuart Scott coined an interesting phrase like “as cool as the other side of the pillow.” That’s what I looked forward to every day. But as I got older, I found more joy in the written word and telling stories. That’s where my dream developed and now it’s coming true.

However, I couldn’t be more thankful for my time at the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator. It seemed like just yesterday, I was sitting across from former editor Brenda Linert for my interview. A few weeks later, I was off and running.

In fact, just a few days ago, I received a notification that it was my third anniversary at the newspaper and I couldn’t help but think how fast that time has gone by.

It started with a quick transition in sports as we put together the annual football booklets and prepared ourselves for the first high school sports season in the Mahoning Valley. I finally came up for air the following June.

Over my 2 1/2 years in the sports department, my staff and I got to tell several amazing stories. From Canfield and South Range winning state titles in football during the same year, to Garfield’s Keegan Sell and Hunter Andel standing atop the podium to conclude the wrestling state tournament at Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center. There was also Austintown Fitch’s state title run in softball last year, before they turned around and did it again this year, and a myriad of other individual titles along the way.

Cardinal Mooney’s Rocco Turner captured a title in golf, Maplewood’s Caleigh Richards won a plethora of titles in both cross country and track over the past three seasons and we can’t forget about the dominance of Canfield’s Nick Plant in the 800 meter or the 4×100 relay legacy that the athletes at Valley Christian built.

However, several stories didn’t include state titles. One story I took an immense amount of pride in was the series I got to do last summer on the history of football in the Warren area. The rivalry between Western Reserve and Warren G. Harding was legendary, the 1990 state championship after the two rivals merged was something out of a storybook and the legacy of the players that went on to play at the collegiate and professional level created a historical culture.

I also always thought our Youngstown State University coverage was unmatched as Joel Whetzel did a great job before replacing me as sports editor. Along with his game coverage, his enterprise-type stories went in-depth with players and coaching staffs to give our readers great insight into how each program ticked. Neel Madhavan has continued to do the same with the YSU beat.

The moral of the story is, my time here in the Mahoning Valley has been nothing short of amazing. From the stories we got to tell to the people that I have gotten to work alongside every day.

But, now it’s time to go accomplish something I’ve been waiting a lifetime for. So, to our readers in the Mahoning Valley, thank you! It’s been fun.

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Tales from Utah Valley: Unfurling of giant flag now a cherished tradition here

By laura giles - special to the daily herald | jun 29, 2024.

A celebratory week is about to begin. Independence Day is coming up on July 4, and the week that it falls in has come to be known by many locals as “Flag Week.” This year marks the 10th year that a giant flag has flown majestically above Grove Creek Canyon in Pleasant Grove. This has become a tradition in Utah County and holds special meaning to many people.

Ten years ago, on the morning of July 4, a giant United States flag was unfurled above the canyon, surprising residents. That was just the beginning. The Follow the Flag nonprofit organization has planned and carried out the special event every Fourth of July since that first morning a decade ago.

The flag unfurling is experienced by many as they wake up early to watch the flag begin its flight. This year, the flag will unfurl at 7:15 a.m. The “By the Dawn’s Early Light” flag ceremony will begin at 7:30 a.m.

A newer flag has taken the place of the original Big Betsy, although Big Betsy still attends many events year-round. Lady Liberty, 150 feet by 78 feet, will fly above the Grove Creek Canyon Trailhead through July 14. Hundreds of people visit Lady Liberty, a symbol of freedom and hope, every year during Flag Week. Many of these visitors are veterans or family members of veterans. Others are coming to honor the flag that symbolizes the country they love.

On June 30, 500 North in Pleasant Grove will fill with people as they help to carry the giant flag from Pleasant Grove’s cemetery up to the Grove Creek Canyon Trailhead, about 1.3 miles. This will begin at 7 p.m. and anyone can participate in the special flag walk. Don’t want to walk? Spectators often line either side of 500 North to watch the patriotic procession. This, too, has become a yearly tradition.

“Why we fly? For the men and women who have given all. For the families who are without a parent. For all of us who love this country, Her flag and all she stands for – 248 miraculous years of this American dream,” it states in a Follow the Flag Facebook post.

Various activities will coincide with the flying of the flag throughout the week, including a 5K Run2Remember and live music on some nights below the flag.

Although the flag can be spotted from miles away, there is something very special about seeing it up close, standing below it and thinking about all that it represents. However, seeing it from afar is also a beautiful experience.

For more information, check out Follow the Flag’s Facebook page or go to FollowtheFlag.org .

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WATCH: Pentagon holds news briefing as Russia threatens response to U.S. drones over Black Sea

Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh held a news briefing on Friday as Russia’s defense minister ordered officials to prepare a “response” to U.S. drone flights over the Black Sea.

Watch the event in the player above.

The statement by Russia is an apparent warning that Moscow may take forceful action to ward off the American reconnaissance aircraft.

The Russian Defense Ministry noted a recent “increased intensity” of U.S. drones over the Black Sea, saying they “conduct intelligence and targeting for precision weapons supplied to the Ukrainian military by Western countries for strikes on Russian facilities.”

“It shows an increased involvement of the U.S. and other NATO countries in the conflict in Ukraine on the side of the Kyiv regime,” the ministry said in a statement.

It noted that “such flights significantly increase the probability of incidents involving Russian military aircraft, which increases the risk of direct confrontation between the alliance and the Russian Federation.”

“NATO members will bear responsibility for that,” it added.

The ministry said that Defense Minister Andrei Belousov has directed the General Staff to “make proposals on measures of operative response to provocations.”

Washington and Moscow have clashed before over the issue. In March 2023, a Russian Su-27 fighter jet damaged a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone, causing it to crash into the Black Sea. It was the first direct clash between Russian and U.S. forces since the Cold War.

A repeat of such a confrontation could further fuel tensions over the war in Ukraine.

The Pentagon and U.S. European Command said after the incident that two Russian Su-27 aircraft dumped fuel on the MQ-9, which was conducting a routine surveillance mission over the Black Sea in international airspace.

The Russian Defense Ministry said then that the U.S. drone was flying near the Russian border and intruded into an area that was declared off-limits by Russian authorities.

Russia has declared broad areas near Crimea off-limits to flights. Ever since Russia’s 2014 illegal annexation of Crimea and long before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow accused U.S. surveillance planes of flying too close to its borders while ignoring the notices issued by Russia.

Friday’s Russian statement follows a Ukrainian attack on Sevastopol over the weekend with U.S.-made ATACMS missiles, which killed four and injured about 150, according to Russian authorities.

Russian officials have claimed that the U.S. was directly involved in the attack by providing intelligence and targeting and warned to take retaliatory measures.

Also Friday, the Belarusian military said it has beefed up its forces along Ukraine’s northern border in response to what it described as security threats.

The Belarusian Defense Ministry said that it has deployed multiple rocket launchers in an unspecified section of the 1,084-kilometer (700-mile) border.

Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko has close ties with Russia and allowed Moscow to use his country’s territory to invade Ukraine in February 2022.

The Belarusian announcement came after the country’s border agency claimed its troops downed a Ukrainian drone that flew across the border to gather intelligence.

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More of the Air Force’s toughest enlisted jobs qualify for bonus pay

The Air Force is bumping up the number of challenging jobs for which airmen and guardians can earn bonus pay in the coming year.

Enlisted airmen in 78 job specialties will be eligible for special duty assignment pay in fiscal year 2025, which starts Oct. 1, the Air Force said in a release . That’s an increase from last year, when the Air Force approved bonuses for 70 critical fields, ranging from an extra $75 to $450 a month.

Fewer airmen could receive bonuses for tough jobs in 2025

The air force's fiscal year 2025 budget includes plan to cut $4 million and more than 700 airmen from the special duty assignment pay program..

Space Force guardians working in 22 fields will also be eligible for the bonuses, up from 14 last year.

The service estimated in its fiscal year 2025 budget request, released in March, that around 30,000 troops would receive special duty pay totaling $91.3 million.

In the past, airmen ranging from recruiters and boot camp instructors to pararescuemen, flying crew chiefs and more have reaped special duty pay. Not all troops in a given field may qualify for a bonus, depending on where they work and whether they perform duties that others in their role do not. The Air Force declined to provide Air Force Times with the current list of jobs that qualify for the bonuses in FY25.

Of the 78 Air Force specialties approved to receive the bonuses, 10 are new and 61 were approved at their current rate. Another four will see higher bonuses than in the past, while extra pay for three will decline. One specialty was removed and 18 requests to join the list were denied, the service said.

Air Force to phase out bonuses for airmen in 33 tough jobs

Seventy career fields will be eligible for bonuses ranging from $75 to $450 a month; another 33 will receive half-pay for a year before they are cut..

For the Space Force, nine of last year’s 14 specialties that earned special duty pay will remain unchanged, plus eight new ones.

All specialties approved for the upcoming cycle can expect to receive bonuses through Sept. 30, 2028, with no changes; those coming off the list will be phased out by receiving half of their original bonus through Sept. 30, 2025. Specialties that didn’t make the list for FY25 can reapply for bonuses after two years.

The Air Force and Space Force routinely offer bonuses in some of their most demanding jobs to bolster retention.

In a shift, the Air Force said it would no longer convene an annual board to consider SDAP changes, and instead will do so every four years. The service said the change would bring predictability to airmen and guardians’ personal budgets, as well as its own. It will, however, consider allowing annual reviews as necessary, like when new jobs are added to the workforce.

This year’s board focused on “identifying personnel in extremely demanding positions with unusually challenging responsibilities,” the Air Force said in a news release.

Airmen and guardians can check MyFSS to view the full list of approved specialties for FY25.

Courtney Mabeus-Brown is the senior reporter at Air Force Times. She is an award-winning journalist who previously covered the military for Navy Times and The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va., where she first set foot on an aircraft carrier. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy and more.

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Kuleba meets Armenian minister as Yerevan drifts away from Moscow

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Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on June 29 that he had met with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan on the sidelines of the Dubrovnik Forum in Croatia.

This comes as Yerevan is seeking to distance itself from Russia, repeatedly accusing Moscow of being an unreliable partner.

Kuleba and Mirzoyan discussed the security situation in Europe and the South Caucasus. The two also focused on ways to deepen bilateral ties and international cooperation between nations, "particularly in light of Ukraine’s future EU membership ," according to Kuleba.

"I thanked Armenia for attending the first peace summit in Switzerland and informed my counterpart about further work on implementing the peace formula on the path to a just and sustainable peace in Ukraine," the minister said .

Armenia had long relied on Russia as its primary regional ally.

However, relations between the two countries have continued to sour after Russian peacekeepers declined to act during conflicts between Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian-backed entity on internationally recognized Azeri territory, and Azerbaijan, in 2020 and 2023. Nagorno-Karabakh was re-integrated into Azerbaijan after Baku's final victory in 2023.

Following this, Yerevan repeatedly threatened to leave the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russian-led military alliance.

In March, Mirzoyan revealed that the country is considering applying for membership in the European Union, aiming to strengthen ties with the West.

Armenia has largely refrained from getting involved in Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. The country delivered its first batch of humanitarian aid to Ukraine in September 2023.

Read also: US wants to invite Armenia, Azerbaijan to upcoming NATO summit, sources tell Azerbaijani media

We’ve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent .

What's it like to work at Costco? A front-end manager shares what the job entails

• Costco warehouses require a lot of different jobs to run smoothly each day.
• Few workers have more customer-facing responsibilities than front-end managers.
• Business Insider spoke with a longtime front-end manager about what the day-to-day is like.

Costco has more than 600 warehouses across the US, and each one depends on hundreds of employees performing a range of jobs each day.

Among those workers, few have more customer-facing responsibilities than front-end managers, whose duties extend from the parking lot to the back of the sales floor and almost everything in between.

Business Insider spoke with an assistant front-end manager in Texas who has been with the company for more than 20 years to learn what the day-to-day is like. BI has verified his identity but is not naming him as he is not authorized to speak to the media.

From starting in the food court to a stint as a supervisor on the membership desk, he says he's seen just about everything.

"I had a customer who didn't know that you had to refrigerate a cheesecake, so he brought it back literally as a brick of mold and wanted his money back," the manager recalled. "We did the refund."

Related stories

Now, as an assistant front-end manager, he oversees a team of five supervisors and anywhere from 25 to 50 hourly workers, and is tasked with handling almost everything from the sales floor to the registers to the parking lot.

A typical day starts when he wakes up around 7:30 a.m., quickly gets showered and dressed, and arrives at the warehouse as it's opening around 9:45 a.m.

"I'm the guy who's there to run the business," he said. "Very much managing the people and the situations that you run into throughout that day."

"Every day is consistent, insofar as it's inconsistent," he added.

Inventory moves quickly in a warehouse , and it's up to the front-end manager to keep a close eye on levels and make sure there is enough staff clocked in to keep things running smoothly in the aisles and the checkout lanes.

Plus, if another team needs extra support, it's often up to him to assign someone to help.

"Everyone goes to the front end, because we have the largest amount of people," he said. "If something goes sideways and your department needs help, you come to the front end."

Around 1:30 p.m., he hands over the reins to the evening manager and steps into a support mode through the afternoon rush until his shift ends at 7:30 p.m.

Asked what his favorite thing about working at Costco is, and his response was quick and clear: the team.

"It doesn't matter what building you're at, or what building you go to, you always find good people to work with," he said.

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