Getting and using information
Beat
The subject area a reporter covers regularly. Close to "rounds", and also slang for getting a story before rivals.
"The crime beat", "the tech beat": your beat is the territory you cover and the contacts you build inside it. The deeper you work a beat, the more the small, real stories surface. Confusingly, to "beat" a rival also means to break the story first. Both senses reward the same thing: being closer to it than anyone else.