Editorial Organisation – Roles and Power

Editing, authority and power

Team structure and content

• Size and structure of the editorial team have a direct impact on the content
• The editorial team decides what is and what is not discussed.
• It thus determines how the world is presented to the recipients and also to the organization
• The power relations in the editorial office and the power over the reaction are very relevant for the content

Example for the relevance of power in editorial teams:

Inside Fridays for Future International: This is how Israel haters are hijacking the climate movement | Jewish General

Special forms of editorial organisation

Wikipedia/Community

Wikipedia – Editing with a consensus based ethos

Wikipedia:Editorial oversight and control - Wikipedia

Newspaper Old Style

aus: JournoGyan (2017)

Example: Job description for an Editor-in-Chief

Editor-in-Chief: Everything You Need To Know About the Role | Indeed.com

Newsroom

Example

https://youtu.be/PNGZAWiKflo?si=Hv56evDBZX4-evVY

Corporate Newsroom

Example

https://youtu.be/2M2ysmdhXkI?si=oMtiOHeUAPlOXtBH

Science

Wie die IPCC-Berichte erstellt werden - de-IPCC

IPCC Author Experience

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTaFy7Sgu-I

Research about editorial teams in journalism

• “Redaktionsforschung” (Research on editorial teams)
• tradition in the “German” vein of research on journalism
• focus on changes induced by commercialization and digitization
• translated into the organization of journalitic teams, especially news rooms

Basic text for research on editorial teams

• „Die Zeitungsredaktion als organisiertes soziales System“ (ruhlZeitungsredaktionAlsOrganisiertes1979?)
• Manfred Rühl - Wikipedia

This social “system of editing” designed by Rühl assumes that the performance of this system consists in reducing the complexity of the environment in order to ensure its own continued existence. In doing so, he draws on the theory of Niklas Luhmann

(Kuhrt, 2002)

By constructing the so-called “member role,” Luhmann enables the researcher to examine, for example, the organizational component “power” for the gap between formal authority and actual power.

Kuhrt (2002)

This is “a set of specific expectations, separate and distinct from all others”. Recognition of this membership role is mandatory if membership is to be maintained.

Kuhrt (2002)

… the editor accepts his or her role upon joining the editorial team and commits to the purpose within the editorial team

Kuhrt (2002)

At the same time, they also relieve the editor of personal responsibility, a fact that makes editorial action possible in the first place, says Rühl in a summary.

Kuhrt (2002)

In addition to the member role, the editor simultaneously fills his work role, which is, however, closely related to the first role

Kuhrt (2002)

Another integration mechanism are the “intermediary systems”. The editorial conference, for example, is such a system, as is the picture conference, and so on. Editors are interwoven into them in their work role as well as in their member role.

Kuhrt (2002)

Research about coordination

One-to-one conversation as the most frequent form of coordination within editorial teams

Defined requirements and need for editorial coordination

The number of coordinating actions increases, when rules and guidelines decrease

Coordination is required

Journalistic practice is not possible without coordination. Usually coordination is not institutionalized except staff conferences (Redaktionskonferenzen)

Editorial programs and decision making

1. Classification by rubrics/ressorts/departments
2. Presentation of information
3. Generation and collection of information (sourcing, reporting etc.)
4. Selection of information by routines for decision and actions
5. Fact checking/verification

Kuhrt (2002)

Another structure-forming process within the editorial office is the “decision-making action” which can be analytically divided into three phases: the collection, the selection and the condensation of information.

Kuhrt (2002)

i.e. since it is never possible to obtain all the information on a subject, each editorial team must establish criteria according to which this information, incomplete in nature, can be evaluated as useful

Kuhrt (2002)

This means that when certain causes or events occur, the editorial team reacts according to the premises it has previously set for them. Each subsystem thereby develops its own conditional program.

Kuhrt (2002)

The purpose program, on the other hand, is oriented to the effect that the information processed by the editorial staff has on the environment

Kuhrt (2002)

Rühl cites the editorial deadlines as an internal editorial purpose program, while the orientation to the “common good” serves as an external editorial purpose program.

Kuhrt (2002)

In this context, the authority of the role holders is composed of personal influence, which is tied to the person of the editor, and authority, which is formalized by the editorial office and limited to each member of the editorial staff.

Kuhrt (2002)

Conflicts in the newsroom are guided by the formal membership rules, are played out within the newsroom, and are subject to the controls of the formal authority in the system, which, however, has the function of unifying the system at the same time.

Kuhrt (2002)

Editorial structure leads to fighting for influence in the system, not against it

Kuhrt (2002)

Constructivist approach (Stefan Weber)

The “topic recursivity” hypothesis states that journalistic topics are increasingly generated from journalistic sources. At the same time, citations are also increasingly used as references from journalistic sources.

In his study on “Editorial Offices as Coordination Centers,” Altmeppen examines the so-called “organizational-dispositive” activities of journalists, i.e., the coordination of journalistic work

Kuhrt (2002)

Digression: Editing and intertextuality

• Editing is always about the relationship between texts
• Editorial quality depends on transparency
• Editorial quality depends on an appropriate translation

• Subject matter experts are responsible for correct translations
• Editors are reponsible for the appropriateness
• Editorial guidelines define the translation rules

Finegrained structures get out of use

Altmeppen notes that at the level of organizational programs, differentiated structures are being replaced by roughly structured ones. This makes journalists’ work more flexible; they can no longer rely on assignments to fixed departments and roles.

Examples of the manifold aspects of change are the orientation of editorial structures and strategies to digital forms of publication

Schützeneder et al. (2020)

Juliane Lischka addresses an essential dilemma of editorial offerings in the digital context: The difficult compatibility of professional standards with economic goals.

Schützeneder et al. (2020)

However, the editorial units are still tied to media companies or media houses.

Schützeneder et al. (2020)

ROI as limiting factor for editorial quality and credibility

• Example: private radio and tv station
• Conflicts between journalistic ambition and content marketing

Research topics/points for discussion

• Editorial teams in commercial organizations
• Editorial teams in non profit organizations
• Content strategy as an alternative to traditional forms of describing the “programs” of editorial teams and news rooms

Exercise

• Please work in groups
• Name a person to collect and report the results
• Describe the editorial team you are working in or one you know
• Focus on roles, authority and decision finding, work force, allocation of resources
• Name problems and learnings – also with regard to the examples in this lecture
• Condense your insights and present them in the whole group