Analyzing the Analysts: Desired Skills of Commentators Based on a Delphi Panel

Despite the “interpretive turn” in journalism, the essential skills of news commentators remain unclear. This paper offers a comprehensive map of commentators' desired skills, benchmarking them with news reporters' skillsets. Findings are based on a Delphi panel of Israeli news executives and experts. Commentators are expected to master critical and independent thinking, superior analytical and reasoning skills, advanced presentation and even forecasting skills. Although they are less expected than reporters to master reporting skills, according to our panelists, they cannot make do with armchair commentary. The paper combines four theoretical frameworks (role perception, boundary work, objectivity and sensemaking) making a threefold contribution: outlining a practical profile of commentators; highlighting their epistemic uniqueness; and offering a typology of commentators that may help restore order in the clutter of analysts flooding news industries.