Definition

1. Noun:
   • A journalist employed to provide news stories for newspapers or broadcast media: A person whose profession is to gather, write, or report news for publication or dissemination.
   • Someone whose occupation is printing: A person, typically a skilled worker, who operates a printing press or is involved in the printing trade.

Usage Examples

• As a journalist:

  • The pressman filed his report on the election just before the deadline.
  • Several pressmen were waiting outside the courthouse for a statement.

• As a printing worker:

  • The old pressman knew every intricacy of the letterpress machine.
  • The union represented the rights of the pressmen in the newspaper's print shop.

Advanced Usage

• "The fourth estate": This term is sometimes used collectively to refer to journalists and the press, a group to which a pressman (in the journalistic sense) belongs.

  • As a member of the fourth estate, the pressman felt a duty to report the truth.

• "Inky-fingered": An informal, historical descriptor for a printing pressman, referring to the ink that would stain their hands.

  • The inky-fingered pressman carefully inspected the freshly printed pages.

Variants and Related Words

• Press (n): The collective term for journalists and news organizations. (e.g., )
• Printer (n): A more common modern term for a person or company involved in printing. (e.g., )
• Newspaperman / Newsperson (n): A synonym specifically for a journalist working for a newspaper.

Synonyms

• Journalist: A person who writes for newspapers, magazines, or news websites or prepares news to be broadcast.
• Reporter: A person who reports, especially one employed to report news or conduct interviews for the media.
• Printer: A person whose job or business is commercial printing.

Related Phrases

• "Press gang": Historically, a group of men employed to force others into naval service; by loose analogy, it can refer to a group of journalists.

  • The celebrity was surrounded by a press gang of eager pressmen.

• "Stop the presses!": A dramatic cry (originally in a print shop) to halt the printing press, typically to insert late-breaking news.

  • When the news broke, the editor shouted, "Stop the presses!" to the pressmen.

Related Idioms

• "The power of the press": Refers to the influence that journalists and news media can wield in society.
  • The investigative pressman believed in using the power of the press to expose corruption.

Noun

1. a journalist employed to provide news stories for newspapers or broadcast media
2. someone whose occupation is printing