to put it very simply, the editor is responsible for content curation. He decides what information should be discovered, and has his sources gather, and then he arranges and delivers. He steers the article and gives direction, and also sets the tone and opinion to be delivered. Editors are usually subject matter experts too who can smell irregularities a mile away, that's why the editorial board of scientific publications are usually all professors.
The writer gathers information and writes the piece from beginning to end. They're something like executives, who execute.
I don't think either is of a higher level than the other, they're just different and both can be experts in their own fields.
I'm sure people working in the field can give better examples.
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