They are very competitive and take great satisfaction in being the first to break a story. They secretly dream about winning a major journalism prize. Meanwhile, they write bread and butter stories and feature articles, and cover regular beats. This is where you come in. The newspaper is principally composed of advertisements, which go into the paper first.
Reporters have no secretaries, they answer their own phones, and they do their own typing.
They have little privacy, sitting at desks in big open rooms or in cubicles. The newsrooms are busy, noisy and boisterous. They work against deadlines, and the deadlines are immutable. Once the deadline hits, the day is over. The one comfort a reporter can find amidst all these pressures are his sources, the ones who bring a good story.