I wish would stop using "journalist" and "reporter" interchangeably.
Reporters are people who actually get out into the world, collect facts, collect opinions from real people (some of them experts at something, some of them not), try to actually see "newsworthy events" in person.
Journalists write essays based on the work reporters do.
I'm not saying I want less journalists, but I do want more reporters.
You might be thinking of ‘columnists’?
Disagree, it’d be more accurate to say reporters are a subset of journalists. Reporters are journalists, journalists is just more general.