assignment means beat

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What Is Beat Reporting?

By NBCU Academy

Beat reporters are experts in a particular topic. Learn how to pick and define yours.

Beat reporters are journalists who get to become experts on one topic. NBC News has plenty of beat reporters in addition to general reporters who know a little bit about everything.

Joy Wang, NBC News senior editorial director for planning and diversity journalism, share with us the definition of beat reporting and how to choose a beat.

What is beat reporting?

In journalism, a beat is an area of specialization where you have developed sources and proven your expertise with your published stories. Think of it as a cop on the beat. If news breaks within your territory, your editor will know you’re the best person to produce an article or appear on camera. You already know everything about the topic and have the right sources in your phone contacts. 

There are three main kinds of beat reporting:  

• Territorial beats a re defined geographically . It can be as broad as “the Midwest” for a national outlet or as specific as a neighborhood for a local newspaper.   
• Jurisdictional beats are defined by a government agency, like the Justice Department, or a corporate entity, like Facebook. Jurisdictional beats can also cover such things as a school district, local government or even a major local business. 
• Topical beats focus on specific issues like politics, weather and health. It might be helpful to be more specific within those broad areas, such as being an expert on one particular politician.   

How do you pick a beat?  

Start with your interests or subjects you know well. Maybe you love trying new foods, or you’re always reading up on the latest tech gadgets. Whatever it is, there may be a beat for it. 

Define exactly what your beat entails  

Figure out what topics and issues fall within your beat. From an editor’s perspective, a narrower one is better. If you’re covering business, for example, should you focus on the stock market or a particular industry? Do you keep track of specific companies within your realm? Whom should you be reaching out to for any updates? The nature of your topic and your news organization may shape how much your beat covers daily news versus longer-term enterprise reporting.  

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What Is a Beat Reporter?

Types, Advantages, and Downsides

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• M.S., Journalism, Columbia University
• B.A., Journalism, University of Wisconsin-Madison

A beat is a particular topic or subject area that a reporter covers. Most journalists working in print and online news cover beats. A  reporter  can cover a particular beat for a period of many years.

Types of Reporting Beats

Some of the most basic beats include, in the news section, cops , courts , town government and school board . The arts and entertainment section can also be divided up into beats including coverage of movies, TV , the performing arts and so on. Sports reporters are, not surprisingly, assigned to specific beats like football, basketball, baseball and so on. News organizations large enough to have foreign bureaus, such as The Associated Press , will have reporters stationed in major world capitals such as London, Moscow, and Beijing.

But on larger papers with more staffers, beats can get even more specific. For instance, the business news section might be divided into separate beats for specific industries such as manufacturing, high-tech and so on. News outlets that can afford to produce their own science sections may have beat reporters who cover such fields as astronomy and biotechnology.

Several Advantages

There are several advantages to being a beat reporter. First, beats allow reporters to cover the subjects they are most passionate about. If you love movies, chances are you'll be excited at the chance to be a film critic or cover the movie industry. If you're a political junkie, then nothing will suit you more than to cover politics at the local, state or national level.

Expertise on a Topic

Covering a beat also allows you to build up your expertise on a topic. Any good reporter can bang out a crime story or cover a court hearing , but the experienced beat reporter will know the ins and outs in a way that beginners just won't.

Sources and Authority

Also, spending time on a beat enables you to build up a good collection of sources on that beat, so that you can get good stories and get them quickly. 

In short, a reporter who has spent a lot of time covering a particular beat can write about it with an authority that someone else just couldn't match.

The downside of all this familiarity is that a beat can sometimes get boring after a while. Many reporters, after spending several years covering a beat, will crave a change of scenery and new challenges, so editors often switch reporters around in order to keep the coverage fresh.

Thorough and In-Depth Reporting Advantage

Beat reporting is also what distinguishes newspapers – and some news websites – from other forms of media, such as local TV news. Newspapers, better-staffed than most broadcast news outlets, have beat reporters produce coverage that's more thorough and in-depth than what's usually seen on TV news.

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Kenna Griffin

A practical resource for writers.

15 Ways to Work Your Beat

July 24, 2023 by Kenna Griffin

Newsrooms aren’t the chaos you see on TV and in the movies. In real-life newsrooms, there’s more of a method to who does what, not just a bunch of yelling and paper throwing. The organization is because of the beat system. This approach to assignments helps ensure that everyone in the newsroom has a job to do and nothing gets missed.

No matter what type of writing you do, you should be an expert in your niche, the people in it, and how to cover it, just like a beat reporter is. 

I’ve helped thousands of writers improve their writing. I’ve earned a full-time living writing and teaching writing for more than two decades. And I know that learning how to cover a beat can help you become an expert in any coverage area.

In this post, you’ll learn what a beat is and 15 ways to work one. 

What is a Beat? 

A beat is a reporter’s assigned area of coverage. Beats help to organize the newsroom, allowing reporters to be “everywhere” for the public by ensuring that ample attention is given to each area of coverage. They also allow reporters to become experts in their coverage areas, identifying stories that best serve their audiences and developing trusted, reliable sources.

What Traits Does a Great Beat Reporter Have?

Every reporter and their approach to working a beat is different. But reporters possess certain traits that make them better at working a beat. And, let’s face it, the better you are at coverage, the more sought-after beat assignment you’ll get. So, it pays to hone in on these traits. 

Not a journalist? That’s OK! You still want to embrace these traits that help you cover your niche with professional curiosity and rigor.

Traits of a great beat reporter include:

• Deep Knowledge. You must have a deep understanding of the area you cover, regardless of whether it’s sports or mental health. You need to understand the current issues and players and the history and context of the beat.
• Curiosity. Great reporters are endlessly curious. They always want to learn more, dig deeper, and discover what is happening behind the scenes. They don’t take things at face value, always questioning what they’re told.
• Networking Skills. You’ll never get the scoop without people. Being a beat reporter means cultivating sources and building relationships with people in the field. This networking takes time, patience, and good interpersonal skills. Once people trust you, they’ll share information with you that they normally wouldn’t.
• Writing Skills. Writing clearly, succinctly, and engagingly is a key skill. If you can’t unpack a challenging topic for your audience, you don’t understand it well enough.
• Ethics. A great beat reporter has high ethical standards and is committed to nothing but the truth. This value means avoiding potential conflicts of interest and being fair and accurate in their reporting.
• Adaptability. The news cycle is constantly changing, and a beat reporter needs to be able to adapt quickly. You might need to change a story at the last minute, work late to cover a breaking news event, or learn about a new topic quickly.
• Resilience. Reporting can be tough, with long hours, seemingly constant deadlines, and dealing with difficult or sensitive subjects. A great beat reporter must have the resilience to keep going even when things get tough.
• Investigative Skills. A great beat reporter can dig deeper and make connections that others miss. It requires research, attention to detail, and thinking critically and analytically.
• Attention to Detail. A beat reporter must pay close attention to detail. Accuracy is paramount, and the little things matter.
• Time Management. Journalists often work under strict deadlines. A good beat reporter knows how to manage their time effectively, prioritizing tasks and ensuring they can complete their work on time.

How the Beat System Applies to Other Types of Writing

I referenced it earlier, but it’s worth getting into more. The ability to work a beat well is just one of the skills I learned from journalism that has applied in other areas of my professional life. I am insatiably curious, which serves me well in teaching, writing, and editing. Dare I say it even serves me well in life? 

I truly believe that learning how to work a beat well will help make you a better writer. You’ll never long for something to write about — that’s for sure.

Knowing how to work a beat can help you as a:

• Author. Authors usually write in a certain genre (e.g., mystery, romance, science fiction, etc.) or subject matter (e.g., stories about immigrant experiences, novels set in a certain time period or location, etc.). Knowing how to work a beat allows you to become steeped in this world and craft.
• Screenwriters. Like authors, screenwriters often specialize in particular types of stories or genres, developing a deep understanding of the conventions, themes, and structures that work best in that area.
• Copywriters. In marketing and advertising, copywriters often specialize in a certain industry or type of copy. Knowing how to work a beat means understanding how to apply your expert skills to an individual industry or several.
• Technical Writers. Technical writers must be able to communicate complex information in a way that people can understand it, just like a beat reporter.
• Content Writers. You know who is one of the greatest authorities in and on any area? The journalist who covers it. Understanding how to work a beat helps a content writer know how to become immersed in a niche.
• Academic Researchers. In academia, researchers focus on specific areas within their field of study, allowing them to develop deep expertise and contribute to the body of knowledge in that area. It means having a deep understanding of what’s there and how to build on it in a meaningful way.

In short, knowing how to delve into an area so deeply can benefit any writer because all writers are specialists in some part of the craft and in the area they’re writing for/about.

15 Tips for Working Your Beat

Now that you understand how helpful knowing beats are, how does this approach to information-gathering work? How do you learn how to work a beat? Here are 15 of my best tips.

1. Know A Lot 

Have you ever heard someone referred to as a “jack of all trades and a master of none”? This cliche sort of describes journalists. Journalists know a little bit about many topics because it’s their job to become quasi-experts on whatever they cover. They have to do this to master journalism.

To be a “master” journalist, you must be naturally curious and love learning. You need to learn as much as you can about what you’re covering as quickly as possible. The more you know, the better stories you will identify, the more intelligent questions you’ll ask, and the more effectively you will serve the public.

2. Understand the Area’s Background

Research the area you’re assigned to cover. You don’t have to go back to Aristotle and the beginning of thought in your area, but understanding the foundations is essential.

What are the big stories that have happened there? What are important ongoing stories that you’ll need to follow up on? You need to know the beat’s history and what’s important to the people there now.

3. Know the Law

Understand the laws that govern your beat. What information are you legally entitled to, and where can you get it? What information should you request but know you may not get because it legally doesn’t belong to the public? Knowing the law in your beat helps establish and build your credibility. It also helps you know where the sensitive areas may be so you can study how to present them fairly and accurately. And it leads to better stories and more advanced coverage for your readers.

4. Meet People

Introduce yourself to the people you’re going to cover. Make them part of your professional network.

If a well-liked reporter is leaving that beat, ask him/her to take you out and introduce you to sources. This helps lend you that reporter’s credibility.

If not, take business cards to distribute and just go introduce yourself to key people in your beat. Can’t meet up in person? No problem. Introduce yourself online. LinkedIn anyone?

Don’t ask for anything during these visits. They are just for introductions and the beginning step toward establishing a strong professional relationship.

While meeting everyone in your beat initially is impossible, don’t focus solely on meeting the movers and shakers. People like administrative assistants and the group who gather at the local coffee shop will be some of your best sources of ideas and information. Don’t forget to meet them.

5. Understand Expectations

Understand what your editors expect you to produce from your beat. How many stories do they expect, and how frequently? What stories are they interested in? What do they consider the most important aspects of your beat? As the old saying goes, “News is whatever the editor thinks it is.” You should at least understand your editor’s expectations from your area.

6. Be There

There is no substitute for personal contact with your sources, especially when you’re new to a beat. You need to develop relationships with the people who work and live in your beat so they will trust you, rely on you, and help you provide important information. Don’t try to work your beat from your office chair. Go out into your beat every chance you get.

Here’s more on why you should leave your desk .

7. Be Immediate

Be ready when big news breaks in your beat. Have a sense of urgency and understand when something needs to be covered in person and live. Know when you need to pivot your existing content plans. Business, as usual, doesn’t work when there’s an opportunity for real attention or a need for breaking coverage.

8. Identify Great Sources

It won’t take long for you to identify which sources are easy to talk to, readily available, don’t mind being interviewed, and give great information. Knowing the strong, quotable sources in your beat is important because they are key to your coverage success. It’s equally important not to rely too heavily on them, making it seem like they are your only sources.

Know who the foundational figures are in your area. Be ready to quote them but also to add new voices to the mix.

9. Question Every Story

Working a beat means you’ll have more ideas than you have time. Question the value of writing every story and the cost of not doing so.

Every story you write means a different story won’t get told.

Ask yourself how important each topic is to your readers. If you don’t know, then you need to get to know your audience better and question what they want and expect from you.

Also, don’t forget about stories. Just because something doesn’t happen for your immediate deadline doesn’t mean it’s not newsworthy . Keep a running list of story ideas so you’re never without content plans. If something isn’t decided or a question can’t be answered right then ask the source when you should contact them again, mark it on your calendar, then always follow up.

Here’s more on finding story ideas .

10. Get Answers

Never let a question go unanswered. Ask a question as often as you have to until you get an answer or the source outright refuses to answer. Doing so means your readers never will wonder why you didn’t ask or accuse you of not asking tough questions on purpose.

On a related note, be sure you understand the answers you receive. If you don’t, you need to ask the source to explain. It’s unacceptable to end an interview without understanding your source’s answers. Stay until you figure out what’s going on.

Never assume that everyone else understands except you. As soon as you do that, your editor will ask you what something means, and you’ll look incompetent when you can’t.

Check out these 10 Simple Steps for Stronger Reporting .

11. Do a Favor

A quick way to build relationships with sources is to do favors, if possible. I added that “if possible” because you certainly shouldn’t do anything illegal or unethical for a source. But if you can bring them a few extra copies of a newspaper they’re in, put an item in a calendar listing for them, or assign a photographer for their organization’s positive (but still newsworthy) photo opportunity. People will help people who help them.

12. Accentuate the Positive

News doesn’t have to be negative. Don’t forget to write about the positive things in your beat. We need and want happy stories. Sources will resent you if you only contact them when there’s an issue. Every beat has positive, fun stories too. Don’t forget to write them.

13. Protect Your Sources

If you tell someone you’ll keep information off the record, keep it off. Keep that secret if you promise not to say who told you a piece of information. Sources who trust you are invaluable.

14. Be Accurate

It should go without saying, but just in case… be accurate. The people in your beat will shut down and make it extremely difficult for you to do your job if they don’t trust you to get information right. Plus, no one wants to be known as the reporter who can’t get it right. Do everything you can to ensure all of the information you release is accurate, fair, and balanced. Failure to do so will make it difficult for you to keep a job in any type of writing.

15. Know Your Role

You spend so much time relationship building in your beat that it can become difficult to report negative things or tell a client no. You will end up reporting something negative about a source who you really like. You will have to tell your favorite client that you won’t do something for them because it isn’t a sound practice. People will surprise you with the things you do. Remember that your job is to do the right thing, however inconvenient it may be. Never dedicate yourself to anything but the truth.

Working a Beat Means Expertise

Working a beat well is difficult. Most of your work is never seen by your readers because it includes things like content development, relationship building, time management, and balancing reporting for multiple mediums while still doing in-depth research.

Perhaps the best advice for working a beat is to understand that the work never is done. There’s always one more edit that can be done or one more story to be written.

You have to develop an understanding of the people who care about your coverage area and what they need and want from you, then you have to set personal limits.

Do as much as you can to cover your beat to the fullest in the time that you have. Really, that’s all anyone can ask.

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What Is Beat In Journalism? 3 Different Types

This article answers the question “What is beat in journalism?”. Discover everything about this topic in our expert guide.

A beat in journalism refers to an area of specialization for reporters where their newsgathering efforts are focused on specific subjects or locations. News beats include specializations such as locations and territories, specific entities and organizations, and types of journalism.

If you are a reporter whose specific job requires you to report on journalism and media, then media would be your beat. If you have ever heard of an education correspondent, their beat is education, and so forth. Learning about beats in journalism can help answer the question, “ Is journalism a good career? ”

1. Location Beats

2. entity beats, 3. subject area beats, are beats in journalism disappearing, it enforces authority, it helps editors, it’s efficient, different types of beats in journalism.

Katherine Murphy,  The Guardian Australia ‘s  political editor, touched on the importance of specialization in journalism when discussing this media feature. She said: “The journalistic mission remains at its simplest: know your patch and use your knowledge to try to tell readers what’s actually going on.”

Put simply, that’s the point of beats; to have reporters have extra knowledge of a subject matter makes for better reporting, be it with a location, an entity, or a section of their newsroom’s output. Looking for more information on journalism? Check out our guide on journalism scoop !

For instance,  Martin Chulov  is the Middle East correspondent for  The Guardian . Therefore, his area of expertise and journalistic focus relates to subjects of countries in that region.

Your first job after journalism school could be covering a local patch. In that case, that patch will be your beat. The expectation would be for you to gather news in that area and cover any relevant breaking stories or press conferences that happen in that area.

There are also specific beats for different entities. To help you understand, consider The White House. A whole host of White House correspondents whose job is to cover all happening in and around the US President’s quarters. For instance,  Phil Mattingly  is  CNN’s  Chief White House correspondent, while  Peter James Doocy  is the White House correspondent for  Fox News .

Another example is sports reporters, who have specific franchises as their beats. For instance,  James Pearce is a Liverpool FC  reporter for  The Athletic .

It doesn’t have to be a physical entity to be a beat for news media.

For example,  Kate Duguid ’s previously covered the stock market as part of her beat for  Reuters .  The Washington Post  has previously advertised for a reporter to cover  social media as a beat .

Subject area is one the most common journalism beats where reporters focus their news writing efforts on a specific genre of media that is broader than one entity but specialized in one area of news output. For instance, you have political science reporters, crime reporting, and many more subject area-beat reporters.

Another example of this would be the education beat. There might be an editor and reporters who work this specific beat. One of there more renowned reporters in this category is  Laura Meckler , who takes on the education beat for  The Washington Post .

Beats can also be combined. For instance, you can be an Australian political reporter. Here, the beat you would be working off would be Australia and politics. You might also be wondering, what does off the record mean?

The coming of age of online and the 24-hour news cycle has led to many newsrooms needing more resources, with specialists now expected to work outside their known area. We are left asking the question “ Is journalism dying ?” Of course, larger newsrooms still have beat reporters but if you are a low-budget organization, affording reporters to have specific beats isn’t always within the realm of possibility. Instead, you expect these reporters to put their hands on the wheel and help with every story they can.

However, the loss of specialization can hurt the quality of the news reports. This point was touched upon in an article entitled ‘Why the demise of specialist reporters is a loss for any democracy’ featured in  The Conversation .

Politics editor for the publication, Laura Hood, wrote: “Beat journalism worldwide is disappearing. There are several reasons, among them the corporate and commercial pressures of going digital and competition from social media.” Ms. Hood summarizes that beats in journalism are the lifeblood of quality, in-depth reporting, and they should be preserved despite the extra cost.

What Is The Point of Beats In Journalism?

Of course, there will still be some news organizations that believe that a beat reporter should be able to focus on a broader range of stories. However, there are several reasons for better courses of action than this.

In the article mentioned above in  The Conversation , Ms. Hood discussed one of the critical advantages of beat reporting; it enforces authority. She said: “When people read a beat reporter’s byline (their name on the story), they expect expert and factual news and analysis. It’s the opposite of generalist reporting.”

A beat reporter will become the go-to journalist for an audience on their given subject matter. Their expertise might be why people tune in, buy the paper, or click online. If journalists aren’t allowed to specialize, they are less likely to gain the expertise needed to become such an authority. When an organization is known for producing top-notch news reporting with journalists with specific areas of expertise, they become the public’s go-to resource.

You can help yourself understand the concept of beat reporting by thinking of a cop who has to respond to crimes when they happen within a specific area. That’s their beat, and they will be sent there by their chief if there is an issue. It works similarly with beat journalists, as editors know they can rely on beat journalists to produce a news story from their specific beat if something happens concerning their area.

It answers the question, “Who does the editor send on this story?” It also ensures that a reporter’s hard work in a specific area gets rewarded. That is because if a journalist has worked hard on a story on their beat, they will be allowed to follow up on it. Practically, a beat journalist already understands restrictions and access to sources and locations within their beat.

When there is a general assignment on a specific subject matter, the beat reporter already knows the fundamentals and is best placed to work on it. If they are good at their job, they already have contacts in the area, which ensures that it’s easier to get reliable sources and more efficient. They also already know the background information and may have previously worked on connected breaking news reports.

Whereas, if a general reporter has to take on a story in an area or subject they are unfamiliar with, they start with a blank canvas. Understanding a story’s background requires time, which is time that a beat reporter has already spent.

Doc’s Things and Stuff

beat | Definition

A beat is a geographical territory to which a patrol officer is assigned.

In law enforcement , a beat refers to a specific area or geographical territory to which a patrol officer is assigned. The concept of a beat is important in policing as it allows for a more efficient distribution of police resources and helps to ensure that police presence is consistent in certain areas.

Typically, a beat is designated by the police department and may be based on various factors such as population density, crime rates, and geographic boundaries. The size and shape of a beat can vary depending on the specific needs of the community and the resources available to the police department.

A beat officer is responsible for patrolling their assigned area and responding to calls for service. This can include everything from conducting routine patrols to investigating crimes and making arrests. Beat officers are often the first line of defense in their assigned area and are responsible for maintaining order and ensuring the safety of the public.

In addition to responding to calls for service, beat officers are also expected to develop relationships with the community they serve. This can include working with local businesses and community groups to address concerns and promote public safety. Beat officers may also be involved in community policing initiatives, such as neighborhood watch programs or crime prevention efforts.

The use of beats in policing is not a new concept. In fact, the idea of assigning officers to specific areas has been in use for centuries. However, it wasn’t until the 20th century that the concept of the beat became more formalized.

One of the key figures in the development of the modern police beat system was August Vollmer , a police reformer who served as the Chief of Police in Berkeley, California from 1909 to 1932. Vollmer was a strong advocate for professionalizing law enforcement and believed that higher education was essential for police officers.

Vollmer also believed in the importance of assigning officers to specific areas or beats. He believed that this would not only improve response times but also allow officers to develop relationships with the community they served. This concept was put into practice in Berkeley, where officers were assigned to specific beats and given the responsibility of maintaining order and ensuring public safety in their assigned area.

The use of beats has continued to evolve over the years. With the advent of technology, officers are now able to monitor and patrol their assigned areas. This has led to the development of tools such as computer-aided dispatch systems and real-time crime mapping, which allow officers to quickly respond to calls and identify areas of high crime.

Despite these advancements, the concept of the beat remains an important part of modern policing. By assigning officers to specific areas, police departments are able to ensure that resources are distributed efficiently and that officers are able to develop relationships with the community they serve. This helps to promote public safety and build trust between law enforcement and the community.

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Beat Reporting

Beat reporting, as opposed to general assignment reporting, gives journalists the opportunity to focus on one area. Many beats are defined geographically, others focus on important issues like health, education or the environment.

Beat reporters develop in-depth knowledge. They get to know experts related to their beat and create a thorough contact list of people to help them tell compelling and credible stories. Beat reporters should stay up to date on all major developments about their topic.

Being a beat reporter allows journalists to delve much deeper and pushes them to uncover enterprise stories. Beat reporters help bring context to stories and explain how each story affects the audience.

My biggest piece of advice is to document everything . You will forget a person’s name. You will misplace their contact information. You should write down what you did before you leave work every single day. I kept a word doc open all day and would add notes as I worked. Write down every interaction you have  in person, on the phone, via email or social media. Include their name, title, phone number, email address, physical address and photo if possible. Include any links to related stories. This is especially helpful when there’s breaking news on your beat. But it also pays off in the long run because you can search for key words that perhaps never made it to your publication. This will help you with enterprise and in-depth stories.

I also encourage you to keep a digital folder with story ideas. Don’t rely on stacks of messy papers. This old school reporting style is inefficient. Keep everything on your computer so you can easily search. Also, back up everything onto external hard drives in case your computer crashes or gets hacked.

A great reporter always leaves a story with a new one in mind . While you’re conducting your interviews, ask people if they know of any other stories that you should look into. Most people like being useful and will often give you story ideas if you ask them. I also encourage you to ask your followers on Twitter and Facebook for story ideas and people to interview.

Not sure where to start? Bookmark USF experts who you can reach out to with questions about your beat. Congratulations, you just started.

Poynter’s NewsU provides a free resource for journalists called “ Introduction to Reporting: Beat Basics .” Here are the key suggestions for beat reporters:

• Make a contact list of all officials, activists, and experts related to your beat.
• Add calendar alerts to remind you to regularly check in on people related to your beat.
• Follow related people and organizations on social media.
• Bookmark websites you should check regularly.
• Add related meetings to your calendar. Decide which meetings you’ll attend.
• Which public records and databases are the most helpful?
• Who are interesting (non-official) people you can feature?
• What are the most important issues on your beat?

Here are some of the resources Poynter suggest you use regardless of the beat you have:

• Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Census Bureau
• DocumentCloud
• Freedom of Information Letter Generator
• Investigative Reporters and Editors’  beat source guide
• Journalism Tools (articles by the Project for Excellence in Journalism)
• Journalist’s Toolbox  from the Society of Professional Journalists
• New York Times’ Navigator
• Open records and meetings laws for every state,  compiled by The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
• Reporter’s Desktop
• Switchboard
• White pages

Courts and Criminal Justice Links

• Cornell University Law School database of state court opinions and legal resources
• “Covering Crime and Justice,”  a guide for reporters on police and court beats compiled by Criminal Justice Journalists
• Covering Criminal Justice, a resource guide published by the Center on Crime, Communities and Culture and Columbia Journalism Review
• The Crime Report
• Criminal Justice Journalists’ guide to reporting about guns
• Death Penalty Information Center
• Findlaw,  database of lawyers and legal cases
• Journalist’s Toolbox crime resources
• LexisNexis,  a subscription service that offers legal, news, public records and business information
• Martindale-Hubbell legal directory
• Pacer,  online service to federal courts
• Poynter’s crime and courts coverage bibliography
• USC Annenberg Institute for Justice and Journalism

Local Government Links

• Center for Urban Policy Research
• National Association of Counties
• National League of Cities

Neighborhood or Suburban Links

• Huck Boyd National Center for Community Media
• National Neighborhood Coalition
• National Neighborhood Watch Institute
• Texas Center for Community Journalism

Police and Public Safety Links

• Anti-Defamation League  (source on hate crimes)
• Brady Center To Prevent Gun Violence
• Bureau of Justice Statistics
• Center for Sex Offender Management
• Children of the Night  resource on child prostitution
• Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants
• Court Appointed Special Advocates  (CASA), volunteers appointed by judges to advocate for the best interests of abused and neglected children
• Covering Criminal Justice , a resource guide published by the Center on Crime, Communities and Culture and Columbia Journalism Review
• Criminal Justice Journalists’ guide to reporting about guns *  The Crime Report
• Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma
• FBI crime statistics
• Federal Bureau of Prisons
• Federal inmate locator
• International Association of Arson Investigators
• Justice Department COPS Office
• National Association of Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement
• National Center on Institutions and Alternatives
• National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
• National Criminal Justice Reference
• National Drug Intelligence Center
• National Gang Center
• National White Collar Crime Center
• Office of National Drug Control Policy
• Officer.com,  law enforcement news
• Official Directory of State Patrols and State Police
• Police Executive Research Forum
• Police Foundation
• The Sentencing Project
• Tips for Covering Cops (by Chip Scanlan)
• U.S. Department of Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
• Learn whether your state prison system has an online inmate locator. For example, check out  Nebraska’s.
• Learn whether your state courts have an online database. For example, check out  Iowa’s.

A Closer Look At 3 Beats: Environment, Health, and Education

Environment beat.

Being on a beat like this means foreseeing cause and effect. There are times when you’re stories will just be a reaction to news events. But, your goal should be to uncover new stories.

One example is understanding that things like sea level rise will inevitably hurt coastal property value. When the value of properties drops, the amount of money local governments can collect from property taxes drops too. What does that mean for your audience? Property taxes pay for schools, police, fire departments, and much more. So the quality of those services will also drop unless local governments find ways to make up the loss. Governments often turn to tax hikes to meet the basic needs communities rely on. So, ask yourself again, how does sea level rise affect your community?

If you’re on an environment beat, you may find some inspiration and context in Al Gore’s 2017 film “ An Inconvenient Sequel .” I encourage you to check out the website and pay attention to the multimedia layout. Draw inspiration from the story ideas and visual representation of data. Part of providing value to your audience is informing them on how they can take action if your story inspires them to do so. Here you’ll find a list of ways your audience can make a difference like:

• how to lower your carbon footprint at home
• where to join a town hall meeting
• how to reach your governor about state regulations
• how to push for clean energy in your city
• find your elected officials’ stance on climate action

You should also subscribe to get emails from the National Wildlife Federation .

“An Inconvenient Sequel” is an update to the documentary “ An Inconvenient Truth ” that Gore helped create in 2006. You can find dozens of environmental resources to use in your reporting here:  http://an-inconvenient-truth.com/links-and-resources/  

Health Beat

If you’re on a health beat, you may want to watch the documentary “ Fed Up .” The film was released in 2014. The trailer got more than 11 million views on YouTube by 2017. There’s clearly an interest in this content. The creators of this film did an exceptional job making easy to understand visuals about sugar in foods and what it does to your body. I encourage you to create similar multimedia content to help your audience quickly consume complex information.

The film’s website has a list of sharable statistics like:

• Individuals who drink one to two sugar-sweetened beverages per day have a  26 percent higher risk  of developing type II diabetes.
• 98% of food related ads  that children view (3920/year) are for products high in fat, sugar, sodium.

The site also lists some of their sources:

• Kick the Can
• Lasater G, Piernas C, Popkin BM. Beverage patterns and trends among school-aged children in the US, 1989-2008. Nutr J. 2011;10:103
• Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine: Trends in the nutritional content of television food advertisements seen by children in the United States
• American Academy of Pediatrics
• Obesity Action Coalition
• OnlineNursingPrograms.com Via: Forbes
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Food and beverage marketing to children and adolescents research brief
• Whole Health Source

Looking for story ideas? Here are just a few you can find on the “Fed Up” website.

• What Should You Really Eat? A Healthy Eating Plate
• A Shopping Guide: Good Food on Tight Budget
• Real Food, Not Junk Food
• The 10 Day Detox
• Recipes to Cook Seasonally
• Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children
• Cooking Medium Raw
• Leave out the Sugar and Cook with the Soul, Soul Food Recipes
• Fat Land: How we got overweight
• UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight
• An Organic Manifesto 
• What Should I Cook? Tips from Mario Batali
• Vegan Cooking Recipes 
• Don’t Eat this Book!
• Why Diets Fail 
• Kitchen Tips

Education Beat

Poynter suggests using the following resources on your education beat:

• Education Resource Information Center
• Education Writers Association
• Council of the Great City Schools
• Journalist’s Toolbox education resources
• Journalist’s Toolbox school violence resources
• National Center for Education Statistics
• National Education Association
• U.S. Department of Education
• Great Schools

Higher Education

The CNN film “ Ivory Tower ” looks at student debt and higher education institutions. It reveals how the business of higher education changed in the past few decades.

PBS NewsHour interviewed filmmaker Andrew Rossi about the rising costs and if college is still worth it.

CNN’s website provides several breakout stories related to the film. There are lots of powerful statistics and animations. Much of this information was collected in 2014, so you’ll want to confirm updated numbers if you use any of these. I encourage you to review them here:  http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2014/11/18/ivory-tower-education-debt.cnn/video/playlists/ivory-tower/

Here are some of the videos I found most valuable:

• Is college worth the cost?
• This is how an online college gets made
• Students build their own dorms to lower tuition
• From homeless to Harvard

College Sports

The EPIX original documentary “ Schooled: The Price of College Sports ” interviewed former student athletes and experts about the business and controversy around college sports.

Campus Sexual Assault

The documentary “ It Happened Here ” explores campus sexual assault. The film features five young survivors and shows what they’re doing to change the way schools handle sexual assault.

Here are some resources from the film’s website:

• It’s On Us
• SSAIS – Stop Sexual Assault in Schools
• SAFER – Students Active For Ending Rape
• Generation Progress
• Jules C. Irivn-Rooney J.D.  – President, Title IX and Clery Act Consulting, LLC
• Rebecca Leitman Veidlinger, Esq . –  Sexual misconduct attorney.
• Culture of Respect
• End Rape on Campus
• Know Your IX
• It Happened Here Discussion Guide

Public Schools

A great resource for education reform is TEACHED . The non-profit project is a series of films about racial inequality in America’s education system. I encourage you to raise your awareness by checking out their videos. They may inspire you to think of new story ideas.

Here’s one of the video descriptions from the  TEACHED YouTube channel :

The latest in the TEACHED short film series, “Code Oakland” examines the evolution of Oakland through the eyes of social entrepreneurs determined that youth of color not be left on the sidelines as Silicon Valley expands into the city that is home to the second largest black community in California. Kalimah Priforce, whose first success as a social justice rebel was a hunger strike at the age of eight, and Kimberly Bryant, a successful electrical engineer turned founder of Black Girls Code, are organizing large-scale hackathons to teach youth how to redesign the future through coding. Joined on the national stage by #YesWeCode founder Van Jones, their work represents the cusp of a movement changing both the face and use of technology in America. But is Silicon Valley ready to be hacked?

A National Disgrace

Dan Rather created an investigative documentary about public schools called “A National Disgrace.” Here is the full film and description from The Rathers Reports YouTube channel:

This special two-hour report documents a pivotal year and a half in the Detroit Public Schools, set against a backdrop of history and the plight of one student desperate to succeed despite the odds. “A National Disgrace” is part historical documentary, part investigative report and part personal profile detailing the political strife, corruption, and systemic breakdown during the tumultuous 2009-2010 school year when the state of Michigan imposed new leadership on the school district. The result is a searing portrait of a local tragedy that asks the question, does the situation in Detroit demonstrate how we view public education? Is the real “national disgrace” the fact that something like this could happen at all?

Segregation

Charter Schools

Standardized Testing

Additional Resources

Additional reading.

• Beat Reporting: What Does it Take to Be the Best?  by Chip Scanlan
• Breaking and Entering: How to Dissect an Organization  by Eric Nalder
• Commandments of Beat Coverage  by John Sweeney
• Finding and developing story ideas  by Steve Buttry
• The Heart of the Beat  by Chip Scanlan
• Living on the Beat  by Robin Sloan
• Turn the Beat Around  by Diana Sugg
• Writing About Place: The Boundaries of a Story  by Jeff Klinkenberg

Reporter Organizations

• Arena Football League Writers Association
• Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors
• Association of Food Journalists
• Association of Health Care Journalists
• Criminal Justice Journalists
• Football Writers Association of America
• Investigative Reporters and Editors
• Military Reporters and Editors
• National Association of Science Writers
• National Collegiate Baseball Writers
• North American Agricultural Journalists
• Obituary Writers
• Outdoor Writers Association of America
• Religion Newswriters Association
• Society of American Business Editors and Writers
• Society of American Travel Writers
• Society of Environmental Journalists
• U.S. Basketball Writers Association

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Published by jeanetteabrahamsen.

I am an instructional designer and TV news instructor at the University of South Florida. My passion for innovating learning led me to pursue my PhD in Curriculum and Instruction with a concentration in Instructional Technology. I love creating media to enhance eLearning and foster online engagement. I teach students to create multimedia stories for broadcast, web and social media platforms. I lead the Florida Focus class where students produce daily news shows that air on Tampa's PBS station. My reporting classes collaborated with Tampa's NPR station to produce award-winning stories. I am an Emmy Award-winning journalist. I produced thousands of hours of TV news in some of America's largest media markets at Tampa's NBC station, San Diego's ABC station and the San Diego Union-Tribune. I also produced immersive 360-degree virtual tours at the University of South Florida and reported for Hashtag Our Stories. View more posts

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Beat in Music: How to Learn Rhythm Theory and Make Beats

Advanced rhythm theory

This lesson is step 1 / 6 of a LANDR Lesson Plan. Click here to start from the beginning or keep on reading.

The beat in music is the centre of everything—if notes are words, rhythm is letters that form and structure each word and each sentence.

Essentially, rhythm is the language that musicians and artists use to play together. It tells the audience when to clap and dancers when to dance too!

What is the beat in music?

Understanding rhythm theory, how to write a beat in music, beat making tools and software to use.

But understanding the beat in music and learning how to visualize and play beats can be a tough learning curve.

The good news is that if you wrap your head around some basic rhythm theory concepts and get your hands on some easily accessible tools, you’ll be on your way to writing and playing great beats.

Read - Sampling Music: The Complete Guide

In this article we’re going to explore everything you need to know about the beat in music.

By the end you’ll understand the basics of rhythm theory, how it’s used in beat making, what tools are out there for you to write beats and we’ll share a ton of resources for advancing your knowledge.

Remember, this article serves as a starting point—we’ve written a lot about the topic of rhythm, so don’t be afraid to click around and explore all the other articles shared here.

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The beat in music represents the number of pulses felt within a certain space of time, commonly known as a bar. The number of pulses to a bar is defined by the top number of the time signature, with the subdivision of these pulses being defined by the bottom number.

Beats in music are also affected by tempo, their subdivision, timbre and note value.

But the key starting point to understanding beats in music is by learning about the basics of rhythmic theory.

Type Beats: What They Are and How to Start Making Them

Beat Making: How to Make a Beat in 6 Steps

What is Rhythm: How Time, Beat and Meter Work in Music

In western music, rhythm theory needed to be understood on paper—composers needed something that a group of musicians could collectively understand.

But before music notation and reading sheet music became the norm for learning rhythm theory—rhythm was taught in drum circles and with clapping.

Read - The 10 Best Drum Patterns Every Producer Should Know

For example, In Indian tabla playing a guru plays out a rhythm and the apprentice tries to play it back, usually at half speed, then with the guru until mastering it well enough to play solo at full speed.

This way of learning rhythm—in groups with a master and apprentice, playing together and climbing the learning curve is important—rhythm is always best learned by playing and doing.

But, western rhythm theory and notation is super useful for communicating rhythms in a uniform way to a wide ensemble.

Let’s go through a quick overview of Western rhythmic theory and notation.

Time signatures

Time signatures are the starting point when understanding Western music theory—it’s the first piece of information that will determine how a song is played.

The time signature contains two numbers that define the number of beats that will occur in a bar of music and how these beats are subdivided.

The number on the top defines the number of beats to a bar—this number must be greater than one.

The bottom number of a time signature defines the subdivision of the notes contained by a bar of music.

Note subdivisions are all squares of two, so time signatures are counted in quarter notes with a four on the bottom, eighth notes with an eight on the bottom, sixteenths and so forth.

Yes—there are some interesting experimental pieces that supposedly use non-square subdivisions, but the vast majority of music is either counted in four (quarter notes) or eight (eighth notes).

So, in a 4/4 time signature, each bar will get four beats counted in quarter notes. Whereas in 5/8 each bar will get five beats counted in eighth notes.

Time Signatures: How to Feel the Beat

What is Tempo in Music: How BPM Affects Music

Music notation.

Time signatures tell you how the framework for rhythm works within a piece of music—but it’s the notes written into each bar that tell the player what to do.

Music notation is great because each note written communicates note value in terms of rhythm and pitch—making it an easy-to-understand grid that all musicians can agree upon.

Read up on music notation —this is how you begin understanding note and rest values, ties, dots, duplets, triplets and more.

But more importantly, you need to practice clapping exercises to really grasp what music notation is doing.

You won’t truly know how a rhythm fits into the rhythmic grid if you can’t say the subdivisions aloud as you clap the notes.

There are many tutorials out there for this so if you want to master sight reading and rhythm then you need to master the basics with some clapping exercises.

If you practice enough you’ll soon be able to play more complex rhythms with syncopation, polymeters, odd time and polyrhythms.

How to Read Music: A Step by Step Guide to Reading Music

What Is a Polyrhythm? How to Use This Swirling Rhythmic Pattern in Your Music

Syncopation: How to Feel and Play the Off Beat

Johnny shares his process for making beats.

Having a basic understanding of rhythm is so valuable for improving your musical vocabulary and deepening your understanding of what’s going on in track—it’ll help you hear and understand what other artists are doing too.

But whether you have a bit of theory knowledge or not, its super easy to write beats especially with modern DAWs, the MIDI roll and loops.

The key to writing a good beat however is being clear about your goals from the outset.

That means picking a genre and understanding how different genres use specific rhythms and sounds.

Slap House: 5 Tips for Making Your Own Slap House Track 

10 Important Drum Beats Every Artist Needs to Know

Why genre is a primary driver of inspiration.

Here's what goes into making a Weeknd type beat.

Sitting down at your computer and randomly clicking around a MIDI drum sequence can be fun—and sometimes it’ll even inspire you.

But deciding on a genre before you start producing a beat is super important for providing direction in terms of the rhythms and kinds of sounds you want to use or create.

Every genre has its unique rhythmic characteristics that run consistently throughout any song that belongs to the genre.

House music uses 909 sounds, four on the floor kicks, rides on the off beats and often a conga pattern.

Drum and bass music uses break beat samples  and usually clock in at 130-140 BPM.

Boom bap often uses simplified funk breaks that repeat fairly often and feature one shot acoustic snare and kick samples.

Trap music uses 808 sounds, heavily syncopated hi hat rhythms with a snare on the two and four.

I could go on, but you get the idea here—it’s worth studying the genres you like to get an idea of the kinds of instruments and rhythms they use to create their unique sound.

How to Get Started Making Rap Beats

22 Rap Genres That Defined the 50 Year Evolution of Rhyme and Beat

The 10 Best Trap Drum Kits for Booming Beats

How to pick out sounds for a drum beat.

When it comes to drums there’s a handful of instruments that you’ll almost always use—they come from the traditional drum set that is used in live music.

A drum set comprises a kick, snare, hi-hat, ride cymbal, crashes and toms. So, keep that in mind when producing your beats—it’s wise to think about these combinations as you fill out your drum parts.

And of course, sprinkling bits of auxiliary percussion like clave, cowbell, congas, bongos, bells, gongs and beyond is an excellent way to add bits of interest to your beats—they also help define the genre since many kinds of music will gravitate towards auxiliary percussion.

Here's 10 more lo-fi inspired drum patterns to try.

Today there’s so many ways to make beats. You can make beats in your browser with an online DAW or with an online beat maker.

If you’re working on a Mac, head over to Garageband and start making beats—it comes installed on every Apple computer. Or you can download a free DAW and start making beats.

And that’s just software, there’s hardware drum machines, samplers and sequencers which are all totally great for making different kinds of beats.

Here's Anthony's favorite DAWs for music production.

Beat making with software and DAWs

DAWs give you a ton of visual control over your beats and serve as an excellent starting place for concocting them.

If you’re working with software chances are you’ll be making beats either on the DAW’s timeline or in the MIDI roll.

Read - The 12 Best Free DAWs to Create Music

Both have different functions and are great for specific uses—the timeline works best as a place to drag and drop loops, whereas the MIDI roll is more of a sampler and is great for arranging one shot samples into any specific rhythm you want to click in and program yourself.

Both of these methods for beat programming rely heavily on the use of samples—so make sure you have access to great samples since many DAWs don’t really come with meticulously crafted loops or sample packs.

The 10 Best Beat Making Apps to Try Anywhere in 2024

The 5 Best Online Drum Machines for Inspiring Creativity

Music Loops: How to Use Loops to Write Tracks [Get 5 Free Loop Packs]

Hardware drum machines.

Read - How to Make Huge 909 Drums in Your Tracks

Hardware drum machines and samplers are where beat-making got its start. Much of 90s hip hop was produced using hardware like the TR-808, MPC, EMu and TR-909.

These tools made it possible to program complex rhythms and clock MIDI through synths and sequencers.

Today there are many drum machines and samplers out there that make it possible to produce beats outside of the DAW—even if they integrate well with modern DAWs.

Working with hardware can be super inspiring because they’re excellent for experimenting with sound and controlling synth setups.

Plus, they use the inspiring workflow that inspired producers from past eras.

The 6 Best Free Drum Kits on LANDR Samples

The LinnDrum: 7 Producers Who Still Use LinnDrum Samples

What is an 808? History & Tips for Great 808s

The future of beat making: embracing new technologies.

The future of beat making looks brighter than ever as the music industry continues to harness the power of emerging technologies like AI.

As we move forward, these technologies aren’t just influencing how we create beats—they’re reshaping the landscape of music production entirely.

Artificial Intelligence in Beat Making

Read - The 10 Best Drum Machines on the Market Today

AI is steadily making its mark in the realm of music, particularly in beat-making.

Machine learning algorithms can now analyze massive amounts of music data, learning and recreating stylistic elements to generate completely new compositions.

While there’s a debate about the creative limitations of AI, it’s undeniable that AI-powered software can serve as a valuable tool for composers and producers.

AI can help to speed up the creative process by suggesting melodies, harmonies, and rhythms based on a producer’s initial idea.

This capability can be particularly useful when experiencing a creative block.

Furthermore, AI software can offer a unique form of collaboration—while AI can generate and suggest ideas, the human creator still holds the final decision, ensuring that the resulting beats retain a personal, emotional touch.

AI mastering, in your DAW

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The beat in music is up to you

When you make music you get to decide what the beat is.

Sure, informing yourself about music theory, genres, rhythmic patterns and various instruments is useful for improving your knowledge and expanding your skills.

But at the end of the day, it’s all about expressing yourself through sound, curation, rhythmic innovation and the entirety of your art.

So dive in, grab what you need and start making tracks!

Alex Lavoie is a drummer, music producer, songwriter and marketing professional living in Montreal, Quebec. He works as a staff writer at LANDR by day and writes indie post-punk tunes in his band UTILS while moonlighting as drummer for folk-rock outfit The Painters . Connect with Alex Lavoie on LANDR Network!

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What Is a Beat, Anyway?

If you read about writing craft, you’re going to come across the word “beat” on occasion. But this is a term that even within the realm of creative writing has at least three different meanings. Let’s break them down here.

Beats in Dialogue

On the smallest scale, a beat refers to narration that occurs between or among lines of dialogue. And there are sort of two senses of the term at this level, actually. Sometimes you’ll hear the phrase “action beat” to refer to the action being narrated as dialogue is delivered. This is also known as stage business. The action beat below is in red:

“Hey, Handsome,” she said. She tipped her hat up so I could see her face. She winked.  “Hi, Mom.”

But that action also gives a rhythmic pause, and that’s the other sense of the term “beat” within dialogue. Sometimes, you want to allow time for characters to process something before they reply. In a first draft of a story, you might even pencil in something like “[pause]” or “[beat]” and return to it later to flesh the scene out with something that accomplishes more than just pausing.

So, at the smallest scale, a beat is a narrational interruption within a dialogue exchange . Some of those interruptions are actions; some might be descriptions or thoughts or any other type of narration that happens to supply a rhythmic pause within the scene. 

For some ideas on how to create meaningful beats within dialogue, check out my article on Triangulating Dialogue .

Beat within Scenes

The next definition of a beat is the smallest unit of story. And that’s a little abstract, so I’ll explain. A scene is comprised of several moment-to-moment actions and reactions. There’s a stimulus and response.

A person walks into a bar, looks around, sees an empty stool and walks over to it. That’s a beat. 

Another person sitting next to our new arrival says, “Hey! You come here often?” And our protagonist scoffs, says no, and turns away. That’s a beat. 

And we go on and on like this to build an entire scene. 

We could define these beats as units of action/reaction, and they deliver tiny moments of change.

For more on how you can think about beats in a productive way to help you craft scenes, check out my article on Using Beats to Move Characters within Scenes .

Storywide Beats

The third definition of beat is at the largest scale, and it refers to the most consequential events within a story . It’s sort of like an itinerary for a story. If you travel with an itinerary, it won’t tell you everything you’ll do on a daily basis, but it will list the highlights: breakfast at hotel; museum; lunch in cafe; trolley ride; lighthouse tour, etc.

You sometimes hear people talk of “beat sheets,” which are basically that itinerary. They’re templates for the major landmarks a story should visit along the way. 

For more on storywide beats, see my articles on Creating a Moving Character Arc and Novel Structure .

The Summation

So those are your three definitions of “beat.” 

• Narrated action or narration that otherwise provides a rhythmic pause between lines of dialogue. 
• A small unit of story that is comprised of an action and reaction and delivers a small change. 
• A significant development within a story that one might list in a beat sheet, giving an outline of the whole story.  

Want to watch the video version of this article? Check it out below:

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• Pingback: Use Beats to Move Characters within Scenes | Storm Writing School

This excellent article answers the question: how shall I improve my writing over the weekend? Many thanks, Tim. 🙂

The concept of beats has always puzzled me, perhaps because I’m not sure why the concept is so important, and I gather that it is very important because EVERY writing teacher, coach, and accomplished author, mentions them. Does it have to do with dead wood? meaningless text that doesn’t further the story? I both read and watched the video, and in the video caught something I glossed over in the reading — that bit about about actors — that actors pay attention to beats to help them interpret a character. That makes sense, little chunks of characterization that bring that character and the action to life. So analyzing beats would be a way to edit out text that doesn’t comprise a beat?

The concept is important for varying reasons, depending on what kind of beat we’re talking about. Those links I supplied at the end of each section above should address the importance of each. If you’re talking about beats within a scene, the value of analyzing them is to assess the character’s movement within a scene. Let’s say you have a character at the beginning of a scene being excited about meeting a romantic partner but at the end of the scene leaving in disgust. How do you move the character from point A to point B? Beats can help make that progression causal and authentic.

Only in the language of the English, could we have a term of art spelled exactly the same, sounding exactly alike, but as varied in meaning as milk and cheese. I suppose, we could just call these dairy words . . . you know, some are the freshest essence(milk) of the story, others are a more pronounced, or solid, iteration(your cheese), and then the in the broadest of terms, the nutritious and satisfying element–eggs. Thank you for rendering these three concepts into a quick “beat”. But you had me at Lighthouse Tours, anyway.

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Index of Posts

10 Lessons from “Cat Person” on Character Interiority

100 Books Published in 2023 for Your TBR Pile

12 Ways to Be an Invisible Writer

3 Techniques for Creating Tension

4 Common Failures in Story Cause/Effect

A Compendium of Novel Structure Resources

A Glossary of Assorted Writing Craft Terms

Action vs. Information: Convey Info without Stalling the Story

Approaching the Workshop

Author, Narrator, Character

Captivating Protagonists: The Essentials

Centrifugal Forces: How a Character Doesn’t Want What They Desire

Common Problems in Manuscripts

Create a Moving Character Arc

Create Sentiment; Avoid Sentimentality

Creating Suspense

Dealing with Criticism and Rejections

Delight: The Secondary Source of Reader Engagement

Dramatic Prognosis: a tool for designing strong plots and improving weak ones

Earning Story Events

Escalating Complications

Exposition in Dialogue

Formatting Character Thoughts

Freytag’s Pyramid Doesn’t Deserve the Hate

How a Scene List Can Help Your Revision

How and Why to Write Your Back-Cover Synopsis Early

How to Create Compelling Story Action

How to Create Story Momentum

How to Maintain Perspective When Encountering Writing Advice

How to Make a DIY Writing Retreat

How to Use Objects to Create More Powerful Stories

How to Write While You’re Freaking Out

How Your Attitude and Approach Toward Habits Can Revitalize Your Writing Practice

Irony is Central to Storytelling

Juggle External Action and Interiority

Narrating Deep or Shallow: The Spectrum of Psychic Distance

Novel Structure: An Aggregate Paradigm

Page-level Storytelling: Four Ways to Break Down Your Narration

Prepping for Beta Reading

Readers to Help You Write Your Book

Revision for Haters

Scene vs. Summary

Should You Use Dialogue Tags Other Than “Said”?

Show, Don’t Tell Disambiguation

Story Consumption: How to Read Like a Writer

Stretch Tension to Maximize Suspense

Subjective Conflict

The Case for Messy Character Motivation

The Case for Pantsing

The Character Mixing Board

The Essence of Standout Characters

The Essentials of Orienting Your Reader

The Key to Epiphanies, Realizations, and Moments of Clarity

The Key to Reader Engagement

The Pitfalls of Emotional Body Language in Your Writing

The Problem with “Show, Don’t Tell”

The Storm Writing School Mission

The True Source of Voice

The Two Imperatives for Compelling Dialogue

The Two Roles of the Beginning

Theme Is Not Optional

Time Digressions in Narration

To Filter or Not to Filter

Tools for Big Picture Editing of Your Novel

Triangulate Dialogue

Turning Points Propel Your Story

Two Conflicts: Problems vs. Obstacles

Use “Urgent Story Questions” to Create Tension

Use Beats to Move Characters within Scenes

Varieties of Omniscience

Verisimilitude: What it is and how it works

What Does the Inciting Incident Actually Do?

Why Most Writing Rules Can Be Broken

Why the Hero’s Journey May Not Be Right for Your Story

Why You Need Strong Antagonists in Your Story

Why Your Story’s Conflict May Fail to Grip Readers

Writing Character Emotion

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Meaning of assignment in English

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• It was a jammy assignment - more of a holiday really.
• He took this award-winning photograph while on assignment in the Middle East .
• His two-year assignment to the Mexico office starts in September .
• She first visited Norway on assignment for the winter Olympics ten years ago.
• He fell in love with the area after being there on assignment for National Geographic in the 1950s.
• act as something
• all work and no play (makes Jack a dull boy) idiom
• be at work idiom
• be in work idiom
• housekeeping
• in the line of duty idiom
• join duty idiom

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

assignment | American Dictionary

Assignment | business english, examples of assignment, collocations with assignment.

These are words often used in combination with assignment .

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

Translations of assignment

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Word of the Day

to do something in order to be allowed more time

It’s not really my thing (How to say you don’t like something)

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• on assignment
• American    Noun
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This is how your brain knows when the beat is about to drop

Researchers identified two brain networks that help us anticipate and identify transitions in music – and these networks look different in musicians and non-musicians

By Grace Wade

26 August 2024

We can enjoy music because of our ability to recognise musical boundaries

NDAB Creativity/Shutterstock

We may finally know how the brain processes a beat drop: people use two distinct brain networks to anticipate and identify transitions between segments in a piece of music.

Musical boundaries, the moments when one section of a composition ends and another begins, are important to our enjoyment of music, particularly from the Western tradition. Otherwise, your favourite hit would sound like a monotonous stream of random sounds, “similar to reading a text with no punctuation”, says Iballa Burunat Perez at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland.

To understand how the brain processes musical boundaries, she and her colleagues analysed brain activity in 36 adults while they listened to three instrumental works from different genres: the Argentinian nuevo tango composition Adiós Nonino by Astor Piazzolla, the US progressive metal piece Stream of Consciousness by Dream Theater and the Russian ballet classic The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky. All of the listeners lived in Finland, and half considered themselves semi-professional or professional musicians.

Electronic music appears to alter our state of consciousness

The researchers found that, right before a musical boundary, a brain network they called the early auditory network activates in anticipation of the musical phrase ending. This network primarily involves auditory areas in the posterior, or back, of the brain’s outer region, called the cortex.

A different network then activates during and after musical transitions. Dubbed the boundary transition network, it is characterised by increased activity in auditory areas toward the middle and anterior, or front, of the cortex. Burunat says the shift in brain activity between these two areas is similar to how our brains understand the differences between sentences in language.

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Several brain regions deactivate during and after musical boundaries, including the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, which is involved in complex cognitive tasks and decision-making. This suggests that, as a new segment begins, the brain redirects attention and resources towards integrating the new musical information, says Burunat.

Musicians and non-musicians engage these two brain networks differently as well. For instance, musicians relied on brain areas important for higher-level auditory processing and integration. This may reflect a more specialised approach towards understanding musical boundaries, says Burunat. Non-musicians, on the other hand, showed greater connectivity across broader brain regions, indicating a more generalised approach.

In addition to clarifying how the brain processes music, these findings may also help develop music-based therapies for people who have difficulties comprehending language, says Burunat. For instance, incorporating elements of musical boundaries into language transitions – perhaps by setting syllables to a melody – may make sentences easier to understand, she says.

Journal reference:

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2319459121

Article amended on 27 August 2024

• neuroscience /

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verb (used with object)

Before there were vacuum cleaners, you had to hang rugs on a line and beat them with a stick to get the dust out.

Synonyms: flog , buffet , cudgel , pommel , baste , maul , drub , batter , belabor

We could hear the rain beating the trees outside the window.

The hummingbird beat the air with its wings.

They beat us by 12 points.

Synonyms: overpower , vanquish , subdue , conquer

I'll beat you to the corner!

Making reservations beats waiting in line.

Synonyms: excel , surpass , outdo

It beats me how he got the job.

One way to beat the hot weather is to go swimming.

We beat the interest rate hike by consolidating our debt into a line of credit.

She beat a steady rhythm on the bongos.

Beat the egg whites well.

The blacksmith beat the red-hot iron into a horseshoe.

He made his piano student practice scales one hour a day in the hopes it would beat some discipline into him.

Kids had beaten a path through the woods to the river.

Some of the hoodlums beat their victims viciously before robbing them.

She beat time to the music with her foot.

• Hunting. to scour (the forest, grass, or brush), and sometimes make noise, in order to rouse game.

He beat him out of hundreds of dollars on that deal.

• to escape or avoid (blame or punishment).
• Textiles. to strike (the loose pick) into its proper place in the woven cloth by beating the loosely deposited filling yarn with the reed.

verb (used without object)

She kept beating on my door, so I finally opened it.

His heart began to beat faster.

The sound of hail beating on the roof was deafening.

We could hear drums beating in the distance.

I began beating softly on the drums, picking up the rhythm as they sang.

Which team do you think will beat?

• to scour cover for game.
• Physics. to make a beat ( def 39 ) or beats.

This cream won't beat.

• Nautical. to tack to windward by sailing close-hauled.

A beat on the head with that thing could kill you.

The beat of drums was coming from the school’s music room.

The patient had a pulse of 60 beats per minute.

• the ticking sound made by a clock or watch escapement.

The police officer was familiar with all the businesses on her beat.

She covers the city hall beat.

Getting the beat on that story was my lucky break as a reporter.

In 4/4 time, there are four beats to the bar.

Watch the conductor carefully so you can come in on his first beat.

Wait four beats and then pick up the phone.

• Prosody. the accent stress, or ictus , in a foot or rhythmical unit of poetry.
• Physics. a pulsation caused by the coincidence of the amplitudes of two oscillations of unequal frequencies, having a frequency equal to the difference between the frequencies of the two oscillations.
• a subdivision of a county, such as in Mississippi.
• Often Beat . Informal. beatnik ( def ) .

After all that gardening I was too beat to do anything but lie on the sofa.

Jack Kerouac was a Beat poet.

verb phrase

We beat out the competition for that contract.

He beat out a weak grounder to third.

There are three days left to beat out the first draft of the novel.

• Carpentry. to cut (a mortise).

We had to beat off clouds of mosquitoes.

• Slang: Vulgar. to masturbate.

They beat back the attackers.

After beating about for several hours, he turned up the missing papers.

• Nautical. to tack into the wind.

Two bullies beat him up on the way home from school.

In the third round the champion really began to beat up on the challenger.

I'll beat up some lunch for us while you make out the shopping list.

• whenintr, often foll by against, on, etc to strike with or as if with a series of violent blows; dash or pound repeatedly (against)
• tr to punish by striking; flog

the bird beat its wings heavily

her heart beat fast

she beat her way out of the crowd

• trsometimes foll byup cookery to stir or whisk (an ingredient or mixture) vigorously
• trsometimes foll byout to shape, make thin, or flatten (a piece of metal) by repeated blows
• tr music to indicate (time) by the motion of one's hand, baton, etc, or by the action of a metronome
• whentr, sometimes foll by out to produce (a sound or signal) by or as if by striking a drum

beat the drums!

• to overcome (an opponent) in a contest, battle, etc
• tr; often foll by back, down, off etc to drive, push, or thrust

they set off early to beat the rush hour

• tr to form (a path or track) by repeatedly walking or riding over it
• to scour (woodlands, coverts, or undergrowth) so as to rouse game for shooting

it beats me how he can do that

• intr physics (of sounds or electrical signals) to combine and produce a pulsating sound or signal
• intr nautical to steer a sailing vessel as close as possible to the direction from which the wind is blowing

he beat his brother out of the inheritance

• beat about the bush to avoid the point at issue; prevaricate
• beat a retreat to withdraw or depart in haste
• beat it slang. often imperative to go away
• beat one's breast See breast
• beat someone's brains out slang. to kill by knocking severely about the head
• beat someone to it informal. to reach a place or achieve an objective before someone else
• beat the bounds (formerly) to define the boundaries of a parish by making a procession around them and hitting the ground with rods
• can you beat it? or can you beat that? slang. an expression of utter amazement or surprise
• a stroke or blow
• the sound made by a stroke or blow
• a regular sound or stroke; throb
• an assigned or habitual round or route, as of a policeman or sentry

beat police officers

• the basic rhythmic unit in a piece of music, usually grouped in twos, threes, or fours
• pop or rock music characterized by a heavy rhythmic beat

a beat group

• physics the low regular frequency produced by combining two sounds or electrical signals that have similar frequencies
• horology the impulse given to the balance wheel by the action of the escapement
• prosody the accent, stress, or ictus in a metrical foot
• nautical a course that steers a sailing vessel as close as possible to the direction from which the wind is blowing
• the act of scouring for game by beating
• the organized scouring of a particular woodland so as to rouse the game in it
• the woodland where game is so roused
• short for beatnik
• fencing a sharp tap with one's blade on an opponent's blade to deflect it

a beat poet

beat philosophy

• slang. postpositive totally exhausted
• A fluctuation or pulsation, usually repeated, in the amplitude of a signal. Beats are generally produced by the superposition of two waves of different frequencies; if the signals are audible, this results in fluctuations between louder and quieter sound.

Derived Forms

• ˈbeatable , adjective

Other Words From

• beat·a·ble adjective
• o·ver·beat verb overbeat overbeaten or overbeat overbeating
• un·der·beat noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of beat 1

Idioms and Phrases

• beat a retreat , to withdraw or retreat, especially hurriedly or in disgrace.

The way he came in here and ordered us around beats all!

He was pestering me, so I told him to beat it.

• beat the rap , Slang. to succeed in evading the penalty for a crime; be acquitted.
• beat the air / wind , to make repeated futile attempts.
• beat around / about the bush , to avoid coming to the point; delay in approaching a subject directly.

He protested that abstract art was off his beat.

By the end of the number they were all finally playing on the beat.

More idioms and phrases containing beat

• heart misses a beat
• if you can't beat them, join them
• march to a different beat
• miss a beat
• off the beaten track
• pound the pavement (a beat)
• to beat the band

Synonym Study

Example sentences.

With some limitations on the usual nonconference games that help poll voters gauge teams, Gonzaga managed to get wins over ranked teams Virginia, West Virginia and Iowa, plus Kansas and Auburn, while Baylor beat No.

Many of the competitions were spectacles, drawing large crowds with elaborate lights and window-rattling beats, but the sport was driven by independent event promoters without any movement trained on the Olympics.

They played a heck of a game defensively and offensively to beat us.

For freshwater paddling, it’s hard to beat the scenery at the mile-long Jordan Pond.

“It’s the worse I’ve been beaten in a long time,” Mahomes said.

He beat his illness twice, wrote about his battles with the disease, and continued broadcasting even as his health was failing.

It went into remission, but it would resurface in 2011; and Scott was able to beat it once again.

But underground classes have Persians getting with the beat.

It may have been the reason why Goldwater beat Rockefeller by three points, and effectively sewed up the GOP nomination.

Despite the scandal, Grimm beat his Democratic opponent by 18 points in November.

Even if poverty were gone, the flail could still beat hard enough upon the grain and chaff of humanity.

His face flushed with annoyance, and taking off his soft hat he began to beat it impatiently against his leg as he walked.

The pulse in Louis's temples beat hard; yet he was determined not to anticipate, but make Wharton explain himself.

To be sure, he hadn't seen Mrs. Robin go, but he had heard the beat of her wings as she began her flight.

We should easily beat this in America with anything like equal facilities, and without charging the British price—£4 7s.

Related Words

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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noun as in responsibility, task

Strongest matches

• appointment

Strong matches

noun as in selecting or setting apart

• distribution
• apportionment
• appropriation
• assignation
• attribution
• authorization
• consignment
• designation
• determination
• specification
• stipulation

Example Sentences

Yariel Valdés González and I faced these challenges while on assignment in South Florida and the Deep South from July 21-Aug.

They’re putting time into decoration just as they would in their physical classroom, and students can interact with the space by, say, clicking on a bookshelf to get a reading assignment.

For now, if the district moves to in-person learning, instruction in Carlsbad will take place on campus five days per week and students may engage in additional independent practices and other assignments at home.

The assignments must also respect the relationships between the elements in the group.

It’s very hard, by the way, to do real random assignment studies of couples therapy.

His most recent assignment was the 84th Precinct, at the Brooklyn end of the Brooklyn Bridge.

When Lewis was shipped off to Vietnam, his son was just three months old, and the timing of the assignment worried Lewis.

When Vial got that first assignment, she was just beginning her photography career, and Cirque du Soleil was only a few years old.

“For our winter issue, we gave ourselves one assignment: Break The Internet,” wrote Paper.

By the 1950s the rapid assignment of gender to an ambiguously gendered infant had become standard.

Consent to an assignment may be given by the president of the company, without formal vote by the directors.

A transfer by the lessee of the whole or a part of his interest for a part of the time is a sublease and not an assignment.

An assignment to one who has an insurable interest as relative, creditor and the like, is always valid.

When an assignment of it is made, the assignee may sue in his own name for rent accruing after the assignment.

In some states statutes forbid the assignment of such policies for the benefit of creditors.

Related Words

Words related to assignment are not direct synonyms, but are associated with the word assignment . Browse related words to learn more about word associations.

noun as in matter or business to be taken care of; happening activity

• circumstance
• office function
• responsibility
• transaction
• undertaking

noun as in arrangement for meeting; prearranged meeting

• consultation

noun as in job, position of responsibility

• officeholder
• representative

noun as in allocation, setting aside

• setting apart

Viewing 5 / 50 related words

From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.

Look up a word, learn it forever.

Other forms: assignments

Whether you’re an international spy with a new mission or a high school student with math homework — when you get an assignment , you’d better do it! An assignment is a task that someone in authority has asked you to do.

The word assignment is just the noun form of the common verb assign , which you use when you want to give someone a duty or a job. When you assign something, that something is called an assignment . The word can also refer to the act of distributing something. If you are distributing new office furniture at work, you might say, “ Assignment of the new chairs will begin tomorrow.”

• noun an undertaking that you have been assigned to do (as by an instructor) see more see less types: show 6 types... hide 6 types... school assignment , schoolwork a school task performed by a student to satisfy the teacher writing assignment , written assignment an assignment to write something classroom project a school task requiring considerable effort classwork the part of a student's work that is done in the classroom homework , prep , preparation preparatory school work done outside school (especially at home) lesson a task assigned for individual study type of: labor , project , task , undertaking any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted
• noun a duty that you are assigned to perform (especially in the armed forces) “a hazardous assignment ” synonyms: duty assignment see more see less types: show 10 types... hide 10 types... guard , guard duty , sentry duty , sentry go the duty of serving as a sentry fatigue , fatigue duty labor of a nonmilitary kind done by soldiers (cleaning or digging or draining or so on) charge , commission , mission a special assignment that is given to a person or group reassignment assignment to a different duty sea-duty , service abroad , shipboard duty naval service aboard a ship at sea shore duty naval service at land bases fool's errand a fruitless mission mission impossible an extremely dangerous or difficult mission martyr operation , sacrifice operation , suicide mission killing or injuring others while annihilating yourself; usually accomplished with a bomb secondment the detachment of a person from their regular organization for temporary assignment elsewhere type of: duty work that you are obliged to perform for moral or legal reasons
• noun the act of putting a person into a non-elective position synonyms: appointment , designation , naming see more see less types: show 6 types... hide 6 types... nomination the act of officially naming a candidate co-optation , co-option the act of appointing summarily (with or without the appointee's consent) delegacy the appointment of a delegate ordinance , ordination the act of ordaining; the act of conferring (or receiving) holy orders recognition designation by the chair granting a person the right to speak in a deliberative body laying on of hands laying hands on a person's head to invoke spiritual blessing in Christian ordination type of: conclusion , decision , determination the act of making up your mind about something
• noun the act of distributing something to designated places or persons “the first task is the assignment of an address to each datum” synonyms: assigning see more see less types: allocation , storage allocation (computer science) the assignment of particular areas of a magnetic disk to particular data or instructions type of: distribution the act of distributing or spreading or apportioning
• noun (law) a transfer of property by deed of conveyance synonyms: grant see more see less types: apanage , appanage a grant (by a sovereign or a legislative body) of resources to maintain a dependent member of a ruling family land grant a grant of public land (as to a railway or college) type of: transferred possession , transferred property a possession whose ownership changes or lapses
• noun the instrument by which a claim or right or interest or property is transferred from one person to another see more see less type of: instrument , legal document , legal instrument , official document (law) a document that states some contractual relationship or grants some right

Vocabulary lists containing assignment

The Dawes Act, or General Allotment Act of 1887, was a law that allowed the U.S. government to take Native American tribal lands and divide them into 40 acre lots for individual Native Americans. The goal was to break up communal tribal lands and speed the assimilation of Native Americans into American society. The Dawes Act caused great suffering with much of the land winding up in the hands of white settlers.

Learn these words from the autobiography by David Lubar (Inside: Level B, Unit 4). Here are our links to the selections of "Every Body Is a Winner": The Human Machine; My Fabulous Footprint , The Beat Goes On; All Pumped Up , Two Left Feet, Two Left Hands , How Coach Told Me; Bionics Here are our links to the units of Level B: Unit 1 , Unit 2 , Unit 3 , Unit 4 , Unit 5 , Unit 6 , Unit 7 , Unit 8 Here are our links to the Inside books: Level A , Level B , Level C Here is our link to a list of academic vocabulary for Inside: Academic Vocabulary

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Synonyms of beat

• as in to lick
• as in to defeat
• as in to surpass
• as in to throb
• as in to flutter
• as in to frustrate
• as in to draw
• as in to glow
• as in to drum
• as in to confuse
• as in to circumvent
• as in to grind
• as in to cheat
• as in pulse
• as in rhythm
• as in minute
• as in tired
• More from M-W
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Thesaurus Definition of beat

 (Entry 1 of 3)

Synonyms & Similar Words

• descend (on or upon)
• pounce (on or upon)
• pistol - whip
• win (against)
• get the better of
• triumph (over)
• prevail (over)
• knock for a loop
• outdistance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• run rings around
• tower (over)
• go one better
• run circles around
• pit - a - pat
• pitter - patter
• interfere (with)
• short - circuit
• scintillate
• discombobulate
• blow one's mind
• go to one's head
• discountenance
• string along
• comply (with)
• accede (to)
• acquiesce (to)
• assent (to)
• disintegrate
• shortchange
• take for a ride
• take to the cleaners
• sell a bill of goods to
• double - cross
• fast - talk

Thesaurus Definition of beat  (Entry 2 of 3)

• counterblow
• sucker punch
• counterstroke
• counterpunch
• rabbit punch
• bludgeoning
• right - hander
• palpitation
• fluctuation
• oscillation
• accentuation
• split second
• New York minute
• microsecond

Thesaurus Definition of beat  (Entry 3 of 3)

• worn to a frazzle
• burnt - out
• tuckered (out)
• burned - out
• washed - out
• broken - down
• debilitated
• overfatigued
• rejuvenated
• strengthened
• revitalized
• invigorated

Examples of beat in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'beat.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Phrases Containing beat

beat a retreat

• beat about the bush
• beat around the bush
• beat one's brains out (about)
• beat the drum (for)
• beat the pants off
• to beat the band

Thesaurus Entries Near beat

Cite this entry.

“Beat.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/beat. Accessed 2 Sep. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on beat

Nglish: Translation of beat for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of beat for Arabic Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about beat

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assigned to a beat

• Thread starter evergreenhomeland
• Start date Dec 11, 2013

evergreenhomeland

Senior member.

• Dec 11, 2013

Hello everyone: How to understand " assigned to a beat " in following sentences? experience a trouble? Well,I think you get the point about bad nouns. (Don’t worry—in aminute I’ll tell you about good nouns.) Ibring this up today because most of you will soon be assigned to abeat in one of New York’s neighborhoods. Ourcity has been greatly enriched in recent years by immigrants fromevery corner of the world, but their arrival has also brought amultitude of complex urban problems. The source is the essay " Writing English as a Second Language " by William Zinsser from The American Scholar . Thanks in advance  

MilkyBarKid

A 'beat' is an area of a city allocated to a police officer to patrol.  

Oh, Can you give me a reference link?  

evergreenhomeland said: Oh, Can you give me a reference link? Click to expand...

OK, I found a reference on Wiki( beat police officer ) .  

• Dec 12, 2013

You don't believe the dictionary?  

No, I want detailed info about the word. I had been assigned to a beat.(Even that country does not use the word)  

Member Emeritus

Even that country does not use [not "used"] the word. Click to expand...

Thanks for your notice. In Japan, new comers must register for a residential card in a local Urban office. Officers there does not explicitly mention some sort of "a beat".  

Thomas Tompion

I hope you are clear, EGH, that Zinsser is saying that these young journalists will be working in a part of the city, just as policemen as assigned to particular parts of a city (their beats). He's using a metaphor, likening the journalists to policemen. They will encounter bad nouns, just as policemen encounter bad people.  

Oh my god, I am completely wrong. Now I got it.  

Thomas Tompion said: I hope you are clear, EGH, that Zinsser is saying that these young journalists will be working in a part of the city, just as policemen as assigned to particular parts of a city (their beats). He's using a metaphor, likening the journalists to policemen. They will encounter bad nouns, just as policemen encounter bad people. Click to expand...

evergreenhomeland said: So they got such an assignment to write various articles about the area he or she is responsible for? Click to expand...

Thank you so much for your kind explanation.  

Trevor Story to begin rehab assignment with Worcester Red Sox on Sunday

Story dislocated his left shoulder on april 5 and has not played since..

By Kaley Brown

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After his season was seemingly over following shoulder surgery in April, Trevor Story is trending toward returning to the Red Sox.

Story is set to begin a rehab assignment with the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox on Sunday. The 31-year-old will be the team’s designated hitter. As Story gets more at-bats under his belt, he will start playing in the field.

The shortstop dislocated his shoulder while diving for a ground ball against the Angels on April 5 and underwent surgery one week later.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora discussed Story’s recovery and the possibility that he could play again for the team soon.

“When that happened in LA, I think everybody thought that was it for the season after surgery,” Cora said Friday, ahead of Boston’s game against the Tigers (as shared by MassLive’s Christopher Smith). “And he did an amazing job during the rehab. And he put himself in the conversation.”

Story hinted at potentially playing again in 2024 back in July. He didn’t guarantee a return at the time, but said the possibility was on the table as he was recovering better and faster than expected.

Trevor Story to DH Sunday in Worcester for the start of a rehab assignment. — Ian Browne (@IanMBrowne) August 30, 2024

Now, with about four weeks remaining in the regular season and Story about to start a rehab assignment, it sounds like he has a strong chance to play for Boston before the year’s end.

“Whenever he’s ready, he’s going to help us,” Cora said. “He will. The athlete, the defense, the base runner. Obviously understanding that the offensive part of it is always a challenge when you come from a long period of absence. But we’ll take the athlete. And I think the athlete is going to help us.”

Since signing with the Red Sox as a free agent in March 2022, Story has played in 145 games out of 458 total opportunities (entering Friday). His struggles to stay healthy during his tenure in Boston prompted emotional responses from the player in the moments and days after his on-field injury.

Story and the Red Sox training staff had been ramping up the shortstop’s recovery process since Major League Baseball’s All-Star break last month. Given that his shoulder surgery was deemed season-ending in mid-April, his and the team’s decision to change the way Story was rehabbing seems to be paying off.

He may have the opportunity to take over Boston’s starting shortstop role if he returns, especially considering David Hamilton’s recent injury. Hamilton, who has played 62 games for the Red Sox at shortstop this year, broke his finger while bunting on Aug. 28. He was placed on the 10-day injured list the next day.

With the Red Sox vying for a playoff spot for the first time since 2021, it seems as if Story will have a chance to meaningfully contribute to Boston’s postseason push in September.

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Nvidia earnings recap: CEO Jensen Huang talked up Blackwell but failed to satisfy Wall Street's sky-high expectations

• Nvidia reported its second-quarter earnings after Wednesday's closing bell.
• The chipmaker beat second-quarter revenue and EPS estimates.
• However, Nvidia's stock slid after its Q3 revenue guidance failed to hit the most bullish of expectations.

Nvidia delivered strong second-quarter earnings on Wednesday — but that wasn't enough to satiate the sky-high expectations of some on Wall Street.

The company's stock, which is known to fluctuate significantly in the wake of its earnings, was down more than 5% in after-hours trading after the company failed to meet the highest of analysts' expectations for Q3 revenue guidance.

But the company demonstrated that AI spending is still going strong.

The chipmaker notched $30.04 billion in revenue for the past quarter, outpacing consensus estimates of $28.86 billion. However, it was a slimmer revenue beat than recent quarters.

The company also beat estimates for guidance, reporting it expects about $32.5 billion in Q3 revenue, compared to average estimates of $31.77 billion.

However, that Q3 revenue forecast failed to meet some of the loftiest expectations for the third quarter, or the Wall Street "whisper number" that some analysts hoped the company would hit. Dan Morgan, an investor at Synovus, said the Wall Street whisper number was $33 billion to $34 billion.

Anticipation has been high for Nvidia's earnings, as the firm has essentially become a bellwether for the wider AI industry.

The big question on everyone's mind was the status of the much-anticipated Blackwell chips, the next generation after the Hopper GPUs that tech companies have been clamoring to get their hands on. Recent reports of a potential delay in Blackwell's rollout drew concerns over the possible industry impact.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Blackwell demand was "incredible" and the company said it expected to ship "several billion" in revenue from sales of the new chip architecture in its fiscal Q4. But it also acknowledged that production problems related to Blackwell impacted gross margins in the past quarter.

"We shipped customer samples of our Blackwell architecture in the second quarter," Nvidia's CFO said in prepared remarks.

"We executed a change to the Blackwell GPU mask to improve production yield," she added. "Blackwell production ramp is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter and continue into fiscal 2026."

Huang said demand continued to be "really strong" for Nvidia's existing Hopper chips, and that AI companies were looking to deploy their capital and build out their data centers now with what was currently available.

While fielding questions from analysts, Nvidia's CEO said that the company is seeing the "momentum of generative AI accelerating."

That's a wrap! Huang ends the call with closing remarks and a summary of his five main takeaways.

In addition to emphasizing Hopper's continued demand, Huang highlights the top takeaways of the call before signing off.

His points include that the chipmaker is on its journey to modernize a trillion dollars worth of data centers from general-purpose to accelerated computing.

He also reminds analysts that Blackwell is an AI infrastructure platform, not just a GPU, and highlights its performance gains over Hopper.

Huang mentions the importance of NVLink, which is vital for low latency, high output, and large language models.

Huang also briefly discusses the rapid acceleration of generative AI and how it's evolving into different modalities. He mentions how Nvidia can assist different businesses with AI developments and ends the call.

The stock is still trading down more than 5% as the call concludes.

Nvidia's CEO fields a final question from analysts.

Huang talks up Nvidia's approach to the Blackwell system rack, and the various configurations it comes in, and the logistics hubs the company has scaled out with partners to make sure it can meet customers' specific demands for their data centers.

Demand for Hopper is expected to continue, but it's not clear how much.

Kress says Hopper will continue to grow in the second half of the year, but isn't giving exact estimates on what's expected in the third or fourth quarter.

Revenue from the beginning of Blackwell's rollout will be on top of that in Q4.

So far, the executives' statements haven't been able to push the stock out of the red in after-hours trading.

The stock is still trading down more than 5% in after hours trading midway through the earnings call.

Huang talks about why Hopper demand is still high as Blackwell rollout approaches.

Huang says demand for Hopper is "really strong" while demand for Blackwell is "incredible."

Nvidia's CEO says gen AI companies spend the vast majority of invested capital into infrastructure, and these companies "need it now" — that's where Hopper chips come into play, as they're available now.

So while interest in Blackwell and its ramp is high, standing up Blackwell's capacity is still weeks or months away, and the Hopper series is there to catch immediate demand.

Nvidia's CFO talks about the increase in sovereign AI revenue.

Kress said "there's more and more excitement" around AI models and what they can offer to different countries.

Nvidia's CEO explains what’s happening with gen AI right now.

Huang does a brief dive into the state of gen AI following a question about how Nvidia is measuring customer return and how that impacts its capital expenditures.

"We're seeing momentum of generative AI accelerating," Huang says.

He mentions that frontier models are growing at a substantial rate and the industry is seeing the benefits of scaling.

To meet demand, Nvidia has to continue to drive down energy consumption and costs, the CEO says.

Huang says the change to the Blackwell GPU mask is complete.

"There were no functional changes necessary," Huang said, reiterating that Blackwell production is expected to start in the fourth quarter.

It's time for analysts' questions.

Questions from analysts have begun. The first question is about any other changes to the Blackwell system.

The CFO expects China to be a very competitive market going forward.

Kress says data center revenue from China remains below previous levels due to export controls.

But data center revenue in China still grew sequentially in the second quarter and acted as a "significant contributor" to its total data center revenue, the CFO says.

The earnings call has kicked off!

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is on the call. CFO Colette Kress kicks off the call and begins delivering prepared remarks. The executives will field questions from analysts shortly.

Expect analysts to press for more on expected Blackwell Q4 sales.

Nvidia said it began shipping customer samples of its Blackwell architecture in Q2 and expects production to ramp up in Q4 and into the following year.

But analysts will likely try to needle in on the expected "several billion dollars in Blackwell revenue" the company expects in the fiscal fourth quarter, looking for additional color from executives on how big or small that number could be.

Emarketer analyst reacts to results.

Emarketer technology analyst Jacob Bourne tells BI that Nvidia continues to benefit from Big Tech's investment in AI, which is fueling "massive demand" for Nvidia chips even as some of these companies work to develop their own rival chips.

"Nvidia once again delivered spectacular results, beating expectations with margins that rival its previous blockbuster quarters," Bourne said. "Despite growing economic uncertainties and AI bubble concerns."

Bourne added that the release of Nvidia's Blackwell chip will remain key in its continued dominance as companies like AMD ramp up their efforts to compete in the chipmaking arena.

Nvidia's CFO says production problems with the company's new Blackwell chip were partly responsible for a dip in gross margin.

Gross margins, a common measure of profitability in the chip business, declined from the first quarter of 2024 to the second quarter.

That was "primarily driven by inventory provisions for low-yielding Blackwell material and a higher mix of new products within Data Center," the CFO writes in the earnings release.

The stock slides in after-hours trading after the Q3 revenue forecast fails to top the most sky-high of analysts' expectations.

Nvidia forecast third-quarter revenue of roughly $32.5 billion. That was below some of the unofficial bullish estimates on Wall Street, known as "whisper" numbers.

Ahead of Wednesday's results, Dan Morgan, an investor at Synovus, said the Wall Street whisper number was $33 billion to $34 billion.

Nvidia beats 2nd quarter revenue and earnings-per-share estimates, but sales outlook for Q3 didn't surpass the highest of expectations.

2nd quarter

Revenue: $30.04 billion, estimate $28.86 billion

• Data center revenue: $26.3 billion, estimate $25.08 billion
• Professional Visualization revenue: $454 million, +20% y/y, estimate $451.1 million
• Automotive revenue: $346 million, +37% y/y, estimate $347.9 million

Adjusted gross margin: 75.7% , estimate 75.5%

• R&D expenses: $3.09 billion, +51% y/y, estimate $3.08 billion
• Adjusted operating expenses: $2.79 billion, +52% y/y, estimate $2.81 billion
• Adjusted operating income: $19.94 billion, estimate $18.85 billion
• Adjusted EPS: 68c, estimate 64c
• Free cash flow: $13.48 billion

Source: Bloomberg

Wedbush's Dan Ives touts Nvidia's earnings as this year's most important report.

Wedbush Securities' Dan Ives said now is the time to grab the popcorn, as Nvidia's earnings should blow Wall Street estimates out of the water.

The tech bull predicted that Nvidia will deliver another "drop the mic" performance, as appetite for its hardware is stronger than ever.

In his view, previous sector earnings indicate that AI demand has not dissipated, spurring upside for Nvidia.

"The cloud numbers and AI data points from Redmond, Amazon, and Google were very strong during earnings season the last few months as this indicates massive enterprise AI demand is now underway," he wrote in a new note on Wednesday.

Wedbush estimates that for each $1 spent on a Nvidia chip, there's a $8-$10 multiplier across the tech sector.

"We believe this is the most important earnings report for the stock market this year and potentially in years for the Street as Nvidia will be the earnings report heard around the world," Ives wrote.

Wedbush holds an "outperform" rating on Nvidia.

Deutsche Bank expects earnings strength as AI demand remains high.

Nvidia's earnings will mirror past quarter to deliver another estimate-beating report as AI computing demand remains intact, Deutsche Bank analyst Ross Seymore wrote.

"While on the margin some may be paring back orders ahead of the launch of Blackwell, we still expect aggregate demand trends to remain healthy," he wrote.

The bank cited Nvidia's technology roadmap as one reason for Wall Street to expect further guidance strength from the firm. However, Seymore noted that shares in the company are already fully valued, as investors are well acquainted with Nvidia's fundamentals at this point.

Deutsche maintains a "Hold" rating on the firm.

Citi says Nvidia's earnings could fail to live up to the past four quarters.

Citi said Nvidia's earnings will fall short of the $2 billion estimate beat it achieved over the previous four quarters, given that the potential Blackwell hold-up could impede the firm's performance.

However, the bank still anticipates that Nvidia will outpace Wall Street forecasts by around $1 billion. Total quarterly sales should reach $28.5 billion, Citi said.

Citi analysts predict that consensus estimates will reach higher for the upcoming quarter, as Blackwell comments from Nvidia should reassure investors about a strong outlook for the next calendar year. Post-earnings, Nvidia's stock is likely to reach fresh 52-week highs.

Aside from Blackwell's possible delay, investors will seek guidance on Hopper demand, AI enterprise demand, and updates on Nvidia's ethernet-based networking product, Spectrum X. They will also seek comments on sovereign AI risk and Chinese GPU restrictions, Citi said.

Citi maintains a "Buy" rating on Nvidia with a target price of $150 per share.

Bank of America warns Nvidia earnings may be an underpriced risk.

According to Bank of America, there is a possibility that Nvidia's report underwhelms bullish investors.

"NVDA results have been a key driver of equity indices, and investors may be underpricing the risk of a disappointment," analysts wrote, suggesting that S&P put options are a good trade to hedge against this outcome.

That's likely as the Blackwell delay could mute near-term upside, the bank said in an earlier report.

However, this issue will more likely test third-quarter results, and Nvidia has ways to dampen any negative impact before then, BofA added. For instance, the firm could rely on larger Hopper chip shipments to make up for the Blackwell supply crunch.

"We see any selloff as enhanced buying opportunity as challenges are not in demand, but in (solvable) supply that will not fundamentally derail NVDA's longer-term momentum," the note said.

Strong Hopper demand this quarter should bolster sales to $28.6 billion, the bank said, outpacing Nvidia's $28 billion guidance.

Bank of America has a "Buy" rating on Nvidia and a price target of $150 per share.

Goldman Sachs sees AI demand staying strong, fueling another big quarter.

Goldman analysts led by Toshiya Hari expect Nvidia's revenue and earnings-per-share to beat estimates, as the firm's fundamentals will support more upside.

Strength will come from data center revenue and the company's strong operating leverage, Goldman said. Meanwhile, the bank cited that Nvidia's hardware is still sought after by leading cloud service computers, and the firm maintains its competitive lead in the AI computing sector.

For investors concerned that AI spending has not yet yielded meaningful results, Nvidia's earnings should combat this narrative, Goldman said.

"We expect Nvidia management to provide ROI metrics available from select customers on this upcoming earnings call as a way to instill confidence in investors," Hari wrote.

However, investors should anticipate some immediate volatility, Hari wrote, given the Blackwell chip delay.

But this will be a short-term headwind, and Nvidia does not lack solutions. The impact will depend on three factors: the delay's extent, whether customers are willing to take on the older Hopper chip, and Nvidia's capacity to ramp up production of a simplified Blackwell model.

Goldman holds a "Buy" rating on Nvidia and a price target of $135 per share.

Nvidia's 2nd-quarter consensus revenue estimate is $28.86 billion.

SECOND QUARTER

• Revenue estimate $28.86 billion
• Data center revenue estimate $25.08 billion
• Gaming revenue estimate $2.79 billion
• Professional Visualization revenue estimate $451.1 million
• Automotive revenue estimate $347.9 million
• Adjusted gross margin estimate 75.5%
• R&D expenses estimate $3.08 billion
• Adjusted operating expenses estimate $2.81 billion
• Adjusted operating income estimate $18.85 billion
• Adjusted EPS estimate 65c

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Peralta pitches 6 scoreless innings, Contreras homers as Brewers beat Giants 5-3

Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta (51) throws to the San Francisco Giants during the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

Milwaukee Brewers’ William Contreras reacts after his two-run home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Willy Peralta reacts after striking out a San Francisco Giants batter to end the sixth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

Milwaukee Brewers’ Jackson Chourio reacts after his run-scoring single during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

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MILWAUKEE (AP) — Freddy Peralta pitched six scoreless innings, William Contreras capped a five-run fifth inning with a two-run homer and the Milwaukee Brewers hung on to beat the San Francisco Giants 5-3 on Wednesday night.

Peralta (9-7) allowed two walks and Thairo Estrada’s base hit through five innings as the Brewers built a 5-0 lead. The Giants threatened in the sixth with a two-out single by Tyler Fitzgerald and a walk before Peralta struck out Heliot Ramos and let out a scream as he walked from the mound.

“It was an exciting moment for me,” Peralta said after he struck out eight, allowed only two hits and walked three. “The last couple of games I didn’t have my normal strikeouts. Fastball was the key today.”

“Freddy was fantastic,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “William did a great job with him. I liked how he stayed after it.”

Contreras echoed those sentiments.

“I like his execution,” Contreras said through an interpreter. “He came out early and was attacking the zone. It’s what I always tell him, ‘Just get after it and attack the zone.’”

Kyle Harrison (7-6) allowed a one-out single to Blake Perkins in the first inning and then retired 11 of the next 12 batters before the Brewers broke through in the fifth.

“It just happened quickly on him,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “Shoot, I thought at the time that he might go six innings. They got three pretty good at-bats off him in a row, unfortunately, and it added up to five runs.”

Jackson Chourio’s RBI base single started the scoring, all with two outs. After a mound visit, Perkins drilled a two-run double off the wall in left-center. Contreras crushed the first-pitch changeup from the rookie left hander for his 18th home run of the season. That was it for Harrison, who left after striking out seven and walking three in his 23rd start of the season.

“We weren’t great offensively except for that one little stretch,” Murphy said. “Contreras put an exclamation point on it.”

Milwaukee’s Devin Williams bounced back from his first blown save last Wednesday at St. Louis with a 1-2-3 ninth for his sixth save in seven chances. He was reinstated July 28 after missing 104 games with a stress fracture in his back.

The Brewers moved to within 1 1/2 games of the Philadelphia Phillies for the second seed in the NL playoffs and two games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers for the top spot.

The Giants spoiled the shutout bid with a run in the seventh and two more in the eighth.

Matt Chapman doubled off Trevor Megill, advanced on a ground out and scored Estrada’s base hit, his second of the game.

Michael Conforto snapped a 4 for 30 stretch with a run-scoring double and Ramos tacked on another run with a base hit in the eighth, all off Jared Koenig.

“When you have a five-run inning, that can deflate you a little bit, but we came back against some really good bullpen arms and scored three runs,” Melvin said. “Made it a game.”

San Francisco came in having won seven of the last 10 games at American Family Field and nine of the last 14 overall dating to 2019.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Giants: C Patrick Bailey (right oblique strain) is with the club and could be activated from the 10-day injured list on Thursday.

Brewers: LHP Hoby Milner (left shoulder impingement) looks to begin a rehab assignment Aug. 30 with High-A Wisconsin.

RHP Hayden Birdsong (3-3, 4.57 ERA) starts for the Giants and RHP Aaron Civale (4-8, 4.84) goes for the Brewers when the three-game series concludes Thursday afternoon.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

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6 Important Types of Beats in Journalism

There are various Types of Beats in Journalism. Before saying anything let us for clear the difference between types and beats. Types in journalism mean different fields of journalism that are independent of each other generally, they use different pedagogy and research methods, for e.g. Investigative Journalism, Feature Writing Column Writing, etc. While beats can be called subsets of different types of journalism , A beat in journalism means going in-depth in any type of journalism, for e.g. Business Magazines, Politics, Finance, Weather, Entertainment, TV Network Schedules, Sports News, Local News Resources, Government Directories, Horoscopes, Money, Personal Health Site, PR Newswires, Social Media and much more. The term ‘beat’ is referred to as the way or road taken by an individual on a regular basis. In journalism, the word ‘ Beat ’ is also referred to as the niche which is appointed to the reporter.

The journalist has an art of conveying in various forms. There are numerous types of Beats in Journalism which we will try to study in this blog. Some reporting techniques are more popular in a particular field than the rest. The role of the reporter is to deliver the news, show the story according to their perspective and observations, give us the insights, comment on it and to submit the report of the issues on the given period of time. Here are 6 types of popular beats are given as follows:

6 Types of Beats in Journalism 

1. political reporting.

Political Journalism is a very prolific and very broad branch of journalism. This beat includes coverage of all aspects of politics and its political science. Many people opt for this kind of journalism, it requires a lot of courage and diplomatic smartness. Although the term usually refers specifically to coverage of civil governments and political power.

Read Related Blog: Political Reporting and Its Vitality

2. Food Reporting

Food is a kind of industry which can never be outsourced. Food lovers always try to discover new food places near their areas. The job of the beat reporter in this field is to remind people about what’s cooking in the local restaurants or any new opening of the outlets of famous restaurants. The reporter tries to connect with the audience by doing advertising and discovering the likes and dislikes in the food preference of the people.

3. Education Reporting

These days many reporters are trying to concentrate on Education reporting which focuses on young people. For the reporters, educational stories are easy to cover which includes exam scores, campus stories, and sports. They can also cover the safety regulations of the students or underpaid teachers in an academy. For example, in India, the reporter announces the results of entrance or final results of schools and colleges.

4. Health Reporting

It is one of the newsworthy issues these days. In today’s generation, many individuals have started to focus on their health. The reporter covers topics like malnutrition, disease, healthcare, pediatric care, nutrition, fitness, growing epidemics and much more. Reports mainly try to focus on prevention of the serious ailment or disease and for that, he must have great knowledge about that field and provide us with the insights.

Read Related Blog: Important Points to Remember While Health Beat Reporting

5. Sports Reporting

This reporting may seem cool for the audience but they don’t know the hard work and sweat the reporter has to put to provide information to all the viewers. Reporters can cover information about hockey, football as well as cricket tournaments held all around the globe.

6. Entertainment Reporting

This is one of the famous reporting where the journalist tries to reveal the juicy gossip of the glamorous people in the world. But it is not an easy job. The reporter has to wait for hours for the appearance of the celebrities. Entertainment reporting takes interviews, reviews of music and films and much more. There are many more types of beats in journalism but these six are one of the famous of all.

Above mentioned are some of the top Beats in Journalism but there are many Different Types of Beats in Journalism which is mentioned below.

Civic Reporting

It is a type of reporting which covers citizen's wellness. This type of reporting is not just normal news but that makes the audience think. The purpose of this type of reporting is to make a difference by public awareness. 

Infrastructure Reporting

In the world of globalization, rapid infrastructure development is a must. The beat, who reports infrastructure reporting collects information about all infrastructural sites like Railway Stations, Airports, Government infrastructure and makes the audience aware of it.

Crime Reporting

Crime reporting is one of the most famous reporting in the industry. All audiences consume crime news in one or another way means the audience is big and that is why this segment of reporting requires all details before getting published. All crimes are included in this reporting.

Environmental Reporting

All modern-day activities like globalization and digitization have their impact on the environment. From the Ozone layer to Deforestation environmental reporting includes all. It makes public awareness about what is going on in the environment. 

Investigate Reporting

This type of reporting demands the beat to be sharp and dedicated because it takes too much effort to open up facts and stories about investigation. But if the beat completes any investigation completely, it can give good recognition and fame. 

Lifestyle Reporting

In the era of social media, the audience will always be interested in what is going on in the latest trend and what is in fashion. This reporting includes news/stories about the latest fashion/fitness trends and other trending stuff.

Business Reporting

All news related to trade/business falls under this category. Import/Export, Goods, Trade, Market, Stock Exchange and other news that are related to business attracts a large set of people and that is why this type of reporting is one of the most famous reporting in current time.

If this article interests you and you think journalism could be your career of choice then you can materialize your academic dreams here: Visit us at www.nimcj.org . We are an acclaimed Mass Communication and Journalism Institution based out in Ahmedabad, Gujarat .

20 Apr 2020

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| | | | | | | My Wordlists Legacy activities       Wordsmyth     Standard   Lookup History beats, beating, beat, beaten to hit (someone or something) repeatedly. , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , to win against; defeat. , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , to shape or make by striking. , , , , , , , , to stir rapidly. , , , , , to hurt (someone) by beating (sometimes fol. by "up"). , , , , , , , , to be preferable to. , , to be very unclear to; perplex. , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,   to hit repeatedly. , , , , , to move with a regular rhythm; pulsate. , , , , , , , , , Subscriber feature   a stroke or blow, often in a series. , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , a rhythmic movement that comes from within; pulsation. , , musical rhythm. : musical rhythm.', '', '');"> , , one's regular professional territory or subject matter. , , , , , , , , , , Subscriber feature   (informal) very tired; exhausted. , , , , , , , , , , , of or pertaining to the Beat Generation of the 1950s, or its adherents. , , , , , beatable (adj.) beating: punishment in the form of physical violence. beater: a device used to beat eggs, cream, or other liquid food. See   , , , Subscribe for ad-free Wordsmyth and more 140 IMAGES Assignment Beat Past Tense, V1 V2 V3 Form Of Beat Beat Means; Defeat,, 41% OFF Beat Sequence Assignment by Music In the Secondary Classroom How to Beat Writer's Block 10 Easy Ways to Beat Writer’s Block Every paper is written with the customer’s needs in mind and plagiarism VIDEO ArsenaultM Broadcast Frequency assignment Meaning Assignment-1 @TharunSpeaks Assignment-3@TharunSpeaks Second Assignment -SLOW PACED@TharunSpeaks COMMENTS Beat (police) Beat (police) Policja officers conducting a foot patrol in Łódź, Poland. In police terminology, a beat is the territory that a police officer is assigned to patrol. Beats are used to effectively divide available officers across a law enforcement agency's jurisdiction, ensuring organized police presence across a wide area. Beat Reporting: What is It? How Do You Pick a Beat? Beat reporting lets journalists become experts in a particular topic. Learn how to pick and define your beat. Beat Assignment Definition Beat Assignment means a Bid Assignment for officers having a rank of patrol officer for which the primary job duties are foot patrol or business patrol in a specific location. Sample 1. Based on 1 documents. What Does 'I Understand The Assignment' Mean And Why Is It Being Used What Does 'I Understand The Assignment' Mean? The phrase "I understand the assignment" is often used by someone indicating their intentions to go above and beyond to do a good job. That's the general strategy behind the organic campaign in support of Vice President Kamala Harris being spread on social that made the catchphrase resurface in late July 2024. Her endorsers are expressing that they ... What Does It Mean When Reporters Cover Beats? A look at what it means when reporters cover a "beat" in journalism. Find out types, advantages, and downsides. 15 Ways to Work Your Beat A beat is a reporter's assigned area of coverage. Beats help to organize the newsroom, allowing reporters to be "everywhere" for the public by ensuring that ample attention is given to each area of coverage. What Is Beat In Journalism? 3 Different Types This article answers the question "What is beat in journalism?". Discover everything about this topic in our expert guide. beat A beat is a geographical territory to which a patrol officer is assigned. In law enforcement, a beat refers to a specific area or geographical territory to which a patrol officer is assigned. The concept of a beat is important in policing as it allows for a more efficient distribution of police resources and helps to ensure that police presence ... Beat Reporting Beat reporting, as opposed to general assignment reporting, gives journalists the opportunity to focus on one area. Many beats are defined geographically, others focus on important issues like health, education or the environment. Beat in Music: How to Learn Rhythm Theory and Make Beats The beat in music is the backbone of every song. Here's what you need to know about rhythm theory and making beats. What Is a Beat, Anyway? Beat within Scenes The next definition of a beat is the smallest unit of story. And that's a little abstract, so I'll explain. A scene is comprised of several moment-to-moment actions and reactions. There's a stimulus and response. A person walks into a bar, looks around, sees an empty stool and walks over to it. That's a beat. ASSIGNMENT ASSIGNMENT definition: 1. a piece of work given to someone, typically as part of their studies or job: 2. a job that…. Learn more. Beat Journalism and Reporting Beat reporting refers to thematic specialization and routines (places to go, people to see) in journalism. The term reflects the distinction between general assignment reporters and specialized ... This is how your brain knows when the beat is about to drop Researchers identified two brain networks that help us anticipate and identify transitions in music - and these networks look different in musicians and non-musicians BEAT Definition & Meaning Beat definition: to strike violently or forcefully and repeatedly. See examples of BEAT used in a sentence. 38 Synonyms & Antonyms for ASSIGNMENT Find 38 different ways to say ASSIGNMENT, along with antonyms, related words, and example sentences at Thesaurus.com. Stephen A Smith Believes Angel Reese Could Beat Out Caitlin ... ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith believes that Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese could beat out rookie sensation Caitlin Clark for the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year. Assignment Whether you're an international spy with a new mission or a high school student with math homework — when you get an assignment, you'd better do it! An assignment is a task that someone in authority has asked you to do. Nvidia beat earnings expectations again. Investors aren't impressed Nvidia once again beat Wall Street's expectations when it reported earnings on Wednesday. But for a company that's been on a stunning growth streak over the past two years, merely great ... BEAT definition in American English verb Word forms: beats, beating, beat, beaten or beat. 1. (when intr, often foll by against, on, etc) to strike with or as if with a series of violent blows; dash or pound repeatedly (against) 2. (transitive) to punish by striking; flog. 3. BEAT Synonyms: 697 Similar and Opposite Words Synonyms for BEAT: lick, whip, hide, pound, lash, knock, hit, punch; Antonyms of BEAT: lose (to), fall, go down, give up, fail, fold, collapse, go under assigned to a beat Hello everyone: How to understand "assigned to a beat" in following sentences? experience a trouble? Well,I think you get the point about bad nouns. (Don't worry—in aminute I'll tell you about good nouns.) Ibring this up today because most of you will soon be assigned to abeat in one of New... Red Sox' Trevor Story to start rehab assignment Sunday Story is set to begin a rehab assignment with the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox on Sunday. The 31-year-old will be the team's designated hitter. As Story gets more at-bats under his belt, he will ... Trump says he wants IVF fully covered, criticizes 6-week abortion ban Allowing abortions up to the point of fetal viability outside the womb would return Florida to the standard that was in place under the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Recruiting Angle: What USC's 27-20 upset of LSU in Vegas means Recruiting Angle: What USC's 27-20 upset of LSU in Vegas means The Trojans' 27-20 win over LSU Sunday was a marquee win for Lincoln Riley, which will have an impact on the field and the recruiting ... Nvidia Earnings Recap: CEO Talks up Blackwell, Fails to Satisfy Highest The company also beat estimates for guidance, reporting it expects about $32.5 billion in Q3 revenue, compared to average estimates of $31.77 billion. However, that Q3 revenue forecast failed to ... Peralta pitches 6 scoreless innings, Contreras homers as Brewers beat MILWAUKEE (AP) — Freddy Peralta pitched six scoreless innings, William Contreras capped a five-run fifth inning with a two-run homer and the Milwaukee Brewers hung on to beat the San Francisco Giants 5-3 on Wednesday night. Peralta (9-7) allowed two walks and Thairo Estrada's base hit through five innings as the Brewers built a 5-0 lead. 6 Important Types of Beats in Journalism 6 Important Types of Beats in Journalism There are various Types of Beats in Journalism. Before saying anything let us for clear the difference between types and beats. Types in journalism mean different fields of journalism that are independent of each other generally, they use different pedagogy and research methods, for e.g. Investigative Journalism, Feature Writing Column Writing, etc ... Donald Trump faces new indictment after Supreme Court immunity ruling Special counsel Jack Smith secured a new Jan. 6 indictment against Donald Trump aiming to satisfy the Supreme Court's immunity ruling. beat The meaning of beat. Definition of beat. English dictionary and integrated thesaurus for learners, writers, teachers, and students with advanced, intermediate, and beginner levels. assignment essay homework paper phd report resume speech thesis