A comparative analysis of the position of an editor-in-chief in the Netherlands, Great Britain and France De hoofdredacteur The editor Le directeur des rédactions

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De hoofdredacteur

The editor

Le directeur des rédactions

A comparative analysis of the position of an editor-in-chief

in the Netherlands, Great Britain and France

Peter Vandermeersch Alan Rusbridger Erik Izraelewicz

Nicole Cordewener s1932128 Supervisor: prof. dr. H.B.M. Wijfjes

Second reader: prof. drs. J. Smit Master in Journalism Studies, University of Groningen

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An editor knocked at the Pearly Gates, Her face was scarred and cold; She stood before the man of fate

for admission to the Fold.

'What have you done?' St. Peter asked, 'To gain admission here?'

'I've been an editor, sir', she said as she shed a tear.

The Pearly Gates swung open wide, St. Peter touched the bell -

'Come in,' he said, 'and choose your harp, You've had your share of hell.'

Anonymous poem1

1_{Jeroen Langelaar, ‘De hoofdredacteur in citaten’, in Handboek hoofdredacteur, ed. Arendo Joustra (Amsterdam: Elsevier,}

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Abstract

This research questions the position of an editor-in-chief in the Netherlands, Great Britain and France, three different types of journalism according to Daniel Hallin and Paolo Mancini. However, they have not given specific attention to the editor-in-chief. This thesis aims to do so. Research on the position of the editor-in-chief is scarce and this is the first time that a comparative intercultural approach will be used in this particular field of journalism studies.

In the first chapter a literature overview results in a description of responsibilities and qualities that an editor-in-chief should have towards his editorial staff and Executive Board. Relevant are also the leadership styles of an editorial leader as described by Leon de Wolff. In the three following chapters portraits are given of three national quality papers that are left-of-centre and their current editor-in-chief. These are ‘hoofdredacteur’ Peter Vandermeersch of Dutch NRC Handelsblad, the British editor Alan Rusbridger for The Guardian and finally

Le Monde’s new ‘directeur des rédactions’ Erik Izraelewicz. Each portrait contains the current

state of the media landscape, a history of the paper and its editor-in-chief, his tasks and leadership style. But an editor-in-chief must also cope with internal and external influences like an editorial statute, code of conduct, style guides, a readers’ editor, unions, press councils and networks for editors. The chapter on Vandermeersch also contains information from an interview that was held for this research.

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Introduction

Journalism studies have been a rapid growing field of interest for researchers. I believe this is because it is an interesting and dynamic world that is constantly changing and reinventing itself. ‘Media and communications industries have always been affected by technological development since their essence is based around technology-enabled production and distribution processes.’ The coming of smart phones, broadband internet and wireless connections had speed this process up.2 Al these technological changes have caused a stir in the media companies, according to researchers. Newspapers and broadcasting companies need to react to these innovations, for example by mergers on the company level and convergence on the editorial level.3

The editor-in-chief

To cope with the changing dynamics of the media landscape, it is necessary to have leaders and managers who are strong and capable to lead their companies into a digitalized future. But managing a newspaper or television channel is not the same like managing a factory or store. That is why the field of media management has become a field of its own in countries like America and Great Britain. The first courses in media management were offered in the eighties, but the sector grew significantly around the turn of the millennium when all over the world new media management courses were taught. Around this time the most important academic journals, The International Journal of Media Management in 1998 and Journal of

Media Business Studies in 2004, were founded.4

What most researchers agree on is that management of media industries is something special. According to Annet Aris and Jacques Bughin in Managing Media

Companies, who both worked in the media industry, two kinds of people work in these

organisations: the creators and transformers. Their book seems to have become a groundwork in the discipline. According to Aris and Bughin the creators have two tasks: they must discover new content or produce this themselves to assess their likelihood of success and they must make a lasting success of it. Transformers work in functional departments or can be described as support staff or ‘crafts people’. The work from transformers in general

2_{Daniela Bartesova, ‘The Future of the Media Professions: Current Issues in Media Management Practice’, International}

Journal on Media Management 13 (2011) 3: 195.

3_{Kenneth Killebrew, ‘Culture, Creativity and Convergence: Managing Journalists in a Changing Information Workplace’, The}

International Journal of Media Management 5 (2002) 1:39.

4_{Lucy Küng, ‘Does Media Management Matter? Establishing the Scope, Rationale and Future Research Agenda for the}

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does not differ from other industries.5 Their work allows creators like journalists, to be creative. This is what makes the management of media industries so special.

Literature about media management, like Aris and Bughin, always is about media

companies. And media is a very broad term for ‘printed products, such as books,

newspapers and magazines; and electronic products, such as films, TV, radio, games, music and more recently Internet and mobile content.’6_{Literature always talks about media}

companies as a whole, but hardly sees differences between a newspaper and an internet company. Perhaps because in general they join forces at the company level: newspapers developed their own websites for example. I believe that there are certainly important differences between these kinds of organisations. A newspaper has been one of the most important sources of news for a long time, but now has to adapt to a society that is digitalising very fast. People get their news online, which makes the newspaper superfluous as it seems. Where newspapers have to find a way to incorporate new media, an online company already has done this.

That there has been little research on the latter group may be explained by the fact that the internet is a relative new player in the media landscape. Newspapers have been around much longer, but still we know very little about the function, responsibilities and tasks that come with being a manager in this area. Also, it should be noted that there are different types of managers involved in making a newspaper. There is at least one manager that functions as a transformer, as Aris and Bughin would say, working on budgets and commercial plans. This manager can be called an Executive, or Chief Executive Officer (CEO). There is also an editor-in-chief who in general is responsible for the creative side of a newspaper: the content. Together, these managers have a very important role, because they decide which course a newspaper is going to take. And in these changing times, a lot is expected from these leaders.

This research

It is remarkable that journalism studies did quite a lot of research on what is a journalist and how a journalist should do his job, but hardly looked into the job description of his superior: the editor-in-chief. Recently, Dutch students interviewed editors-in-chief and they talked about what an editor-in-chief does. He is the boss of the journalistic content and the editorial staff, he must fight for the interests of this staff and make sure they contribute to the organization.7 He is also the link between Executive Board and staff.8 He is the one that

5

Annet Aris and Jacques Bughin, Managing Media Companies (Chichester: Wiley, 2009) 375 & 377-378.

6

Ibidem, 1-2.

7_{Klaske Tameling, ‘Journalisten zijn over het algemeen beroerde managers (Philippe Remarque, hoofdredacteur de}

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guards the identity of the newspaper and he thinks about the future and strategical decisions.9 In general it can be said that literature on this subject is scarce. Dutch editor-in-chief Arendo Joustra explains this by the fact that his job is hard to describe. It is not possible to become a bachelor or master in editing for example.10

Literature in general comes to one conclusion: whoever holds the title of editor-in-chief has a very important job. He (and sometimes she) is responsible for the journalistic content of a newspaper and the journalistic course that a newspaper is taking. But there is also an Executive Board that hardly knows anything of journalism and usually just wants to make money. The editor-in-chief can be seen as the spokesperson of the editorial staff towards the Board and vice versa. Sometimes, an editor-in-chief is a member of the Board as well. But how does that affect his journalistic independence? In this thesis I want to investigate the relationship of an editor-in-chief and his staff, but also the relationship with the Board. The editorial staff and the Executive Board need each other, with the editor-in-chief often in a binding role.

Comparative analysis

To understand the position of the editor-in-chief I want to use an approach that is known in journalism studies, but is not frequently used: international comparative research. ‘Over the years, comparative research has not only yielded valuable insights beyond a mere description of similarities and differences, but also contributed to our understanding of specific countries.’11_{In this case the position of an editor-in-chief gets meaning by comparing}

it to the position of an editor-in-chief from another country.

To choose countries to investigate, I want to use the three types of journalism as classified by Daniel Hallin and Paolo Mancini: the North Atlantic or Liberal Model, the North/Central European or Democratic Corporatist Model and the Mediterranean or Polarized Plutarist Model.12 Each model is different in its own way, but also within each model there can be differences, because not one country has developed exactly like others. How the press system works in a certain country will also influence the position and tasks of an editor-in-chief. By comparing three editors-in-chief from three different models, I hope not only to see the similarities and differences more clearly, but I also hope to get a broad and complete

Wijfjes, ‘De hoofdredacteur is de representant van de lezer (Pieter Sijpersma, hoofdredacteur Dagblad van het Noorden)’, in De

hoofdredacteur, ed. Huub Wijfjes and Bas de Jong (Diemen: AMB, 2011) 65 & Maaike Piscaer, ‘Het is een hele dienstbare functie (Jan Geert Majoor, hoofdredacteur HDC Media)’, in De hoofdredacteur, ed. Huub Wijfjes and Bas de Jong, (Diemen: AMB, 2011) 107 & Hugo Brandt Corstius, De hoofdredacteur (Amsterdam: de Volkskrant, 1995) 8.

8_{Christian Delporte, Histoire du journalisme et des journalistes en France (Paris: P.U.F., 1995) 21.}

9_{Piscaer, ‘Het is een hele dienstbare functie (Jan Geert Majoor, hoofdredacteur HDC Media)’ in De hoofdredacteur, ed. Wijfjes}

and De Jong, 103 & 109 & Huub Wijfjes and Bas de Jong, ed., De hoofdredacteur (Diemen: AMB, 2011) 273.

10

Tony van der Meulen, ed., Storm in de media (Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Balans, 2009)154.

11_{Thomas Hanitzsch, ‘Comparative Journalism Studies’, in The handbook of journalism studies, ed. Karin Wahl-Jorgensen and}

Thomas Hanitzsch (New York/London: Routledge, 2009) 413.

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picture of which positions and tasks an editor-in-chief might have. This may provide valuable new information to the research of Hallin and Mancini. They may have done a thorough investigation of the countries in their research, but they have not given any specific attention to the position of the editor-in-chief. In this research I will do so and I hope to complete their theories by taking a closer look at the editor-in-chief in these three types of journalism.

Hallin and Mancini

Hallin and Mancini used four aspects to compare countries: the development of media markets, with particular emphasis on the strong or weak development of a mass circulation press; political parallelism: the degree and nature of links between media and political parties; the development of journalistic professionalization; the degree and nature of state intervention in the media system.13 In the Netherlands for example, the government has less influence over the commercial press but still can decide upon the laws and legislation that media companies should adhere to as we shall see in chapter 2.14 These laws and legislation can also expand or minimize the powers of an editor-in-chief. In Britain there is a distinct separation between media and politics, which has resulted in a very commercial press system. State intervention is therefore the most limited of all the models.15 Chapter 3 will contain more information on this. In Mediterranean countries as France, the media and political system are closely linked. This also means that a French editor-in-chief must deal with politicians that want to influence the media.16 Chapter 4 will show that the model in North/Central Europe seems to be a compromise between the other two models.

Not in each model journalism is seen as a profession, as the researchers have shown. Especially in Mediterranean countries the professionalization is weak, while in North and Central Europe (or the Democratic Corporatist Model) professionalization is very strong. This means that journalism as a profession (or job) has a higher status in countries as the Netherlands, but also that press councils, unions and editorial statutes are relatively well developed and influential.17 North Atlantic countries, like Ireland and Britain belong to the Liberal Model. Their position on the four aforementioned aspects lies mostly in the middle of the other two models.18 The media landscape in a certain country also affects the position of an editor-in-chief for he must take in account all these aspects. It might be possible for example, that there are certain agreements between the Executive Board and the editor-in-chief and in that case both parties must adhere to them.

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Countries

I want to investigate the role of the editor-in-chief in each model of journalism, as defined by Hallin and Mancini, by choosing a country that represents it. I will focus on quality newspapers that appear nationwide, so I can compare these newspapers with one another. For the North/Central European Model I will look into the Netherlands and NRC Handelsblad, the Mediterranean Model will be represented by France and Le Monde and for the North Atlantic Model I choose Great Britain and The Guardian. As Hallin and Mancini already state, France and Britain are not pure examples of their model. ‘Britain could actually be conceived as lying somewhere between the ideal type of the Liberal Model and the Democratic Corporatist Model that prevails in northern continental Europe. France is also a mixed case, and can be conceived as lying between the Polarized Plutarist and Democratic Corporist Models.’19_{But because of practical reasons like the language barrier, I still choose to use}

these countries in my research.

An important note is that an editor-in-chief in Britain might have a different position and different responsibilities than an editor-in-chief in France or the Netherlands. Because of this I will use the descriptions that the editors-in-chief use themselves, so hoofdredacteur for Dutch editors-in-chief and directeur de la rédaction (one editorial staff) or directeur des

rédactions (multiple editorial staffs) for France. But also their Executive Board and editorial

staffs may have different rights and tasks. In order to avoid problems with the translation, I shall address them where possible as they address themselves. The focus of this will be on the editor-in-chief and the relationships with his Executive Board and his editorial staff. I will investigate which tasks an editor-in-chief has, which qualities are necessary to function as an editor-in-chief and what their opinions are concerning their job. All of this together provides a picture of the leadership style of the editor-in-chief. To summarize:

Which position regarding their editorial staff and Executive Board do editors-in-chief of national quality newspapers have in The Netherlands, France and Great Britain?

1. Which tasks does the editor-in-chief have towards his editorial staff and the Executive Board?

2. Which qualities should an editor-in-chief possess?

3. What are his opinions on his position of being editor-in-chief? 4. How can his leadership style be described?

I want to know how the editors-in-chief think about themselves as editors-in-chief (their tasks, qualities and opinions), but I also would to hear their thoughts on the editor-in-chief, his tasks and qualities in general.

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To answer the first research question I will look into literature on this matter. For the second and third question I will also use interviews with and articles about these editors-in-chief. I hope to speak with these editors-in-chief myself. Their leadership styles (question four) I will describe myself, using a framework of literature. When answering these questions it is important to keep in mind that there may be internal and external aspects that influence the position of the editor-in-chief and therefore his tasks, qualities, opinions and leadership style.

Structure

In this thesis I will look at theoretical literature about the editor-in-chief. In the first chapter I will describe what an editor-in-chief does, which responsibilities and tasks come along with this job and which qualities are important for an editor-in-chief. I will also demonstrate four leadership styles that I will use to describe the men in the three remaining chapters.

I will present a portrait of the newspapers in this research in chapters 2, 3 and 4. I will look at the ownership structures of the companies behind these papers and the people that are in charge, like the editor-in-chief and the Executive Board. I will also apply the models, as described by Hallin and Mancini. I will look at theoretical literature about these men and their newspapers. Codes of conduct, style guides or editorial statutes may explain more about the internal power relations. Editors-in-chief also may have to answer to (inter)national codes of practice or associations for journalists or editors-in-chief. It is important to take in account all internal and external factors that may influence the position of an editor-in-chief. By interviewing these editors-in-chief I hope to find understand them better and I hope to have a better understanding of their tasks, qualities and opinions.

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1. What is an editor-in-chief?

Hoofdredacteur (m.), hoofd van een redactie; - (in ’t bijz.) de voornaamste van de redacteuren, die de

hoofdleiding van een krant, tijdschrift of woordenboek heeft [..]20

Editor  noun a person who is in charge and determines the final content of a newspaper, magazine,

or multi-author book.

-in-chief  combining form supreme: commander-in-chief21

REDACTEUR, TRICE

[..] Rédacteur en chef: directeur de la rédaction d’un périodique, d’un journal. [..]22

Finding a description in a dictionary for someone who is responsible for the journalistic content of a newspaper is not easy. The Dutch dictionary Van Dale calls this person a ‘hoofdredacteur’ and he can be defined as ‘the head of an editorial staff, the most principal of the journalists, who has the main leading position of a newspaper, magazine or dictionary’. In Britain however, the term editor seems to be more common. An editor is in charge and decides on the final content of a newspaper, magazine or multi-author book according to the

Oxford Dictionary. When ‘-in-chief’ is added, it means that he is the supreme

commander-in-chief. In France, the definition must be searched thoroughly and somewhere in the lemma ‘redacteur, trice’. Le Petit Robert defines this person as the ‘rédacteur en chef’ or ‘directeur de la rédaction of a magazine or newspaper’. It seems that these three functions entail more or less the same thing, though there may be some national differences. That is what I want to investigate in this thesis. I want to grasp the differences in the interpretation between an editor-in-chief in the Netherlands, France and Britain.

Of course, this will go further than just a simple definition in a dictionary. I want to know more about their tasks, qualities and leadership styles. And I want to look into the relationship with their staffs and the relationship with the executives responsible for the company behind the paper. Maybe, in the end the position of a hoofdredacteur, editor and directeur de la rédaction are all the same. Or maybe they are very different, just as their descriptions in the dictionaries of their own countries. To clarify the differences between these terms, I shall use their own native descriptions to describe their job. So Peter Vandermeersch will be addressed as hoofdredacteur, Alan Rusbridger as an editor and Erik

20

G. Geerts and H. Heestermans, ed., Van Dale Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal a-i (Utrecht-Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie, 1992) 1186.

21

Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson, ed., Oxford Dictionary of English (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003) 554 & 875.

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Izraelewicz as directeur des rédactions. For practical reasons I shall address the three of them or the job in general as that of an editor-in-chief, like in the rest of this chapter.

Other definitions

Directie (direktie) (v.; -s) [..] 2 de personen welke met de leiding, het bestuur zijn belast, de

gezamenlijke directeuren [..]23

Board  [..] 3 [treated as sing. or pl.] a group of people constituted as the decision-making body of an

organization: he sits on the board of directors I [as modifier] a board meeting.24

Director  noun a person who is in charge of an activity, department, or organization: the company’s

finance director. A member of the board of people that manages or oversees the affairs of a business [..]25

DIRECTION

[..] 2. Fonction, poste de directeur ( commandement, présidence). Étre nommé à la direction du personnel [..] La personne ou l’équipe qui dirige une entreprise ( management, anglic.). Demander à parler à la direction. La direction générale (D.G.), commerciale. [..]26

DIRECTOIRE

[..] 1. [..] Conseil ou tribunal élu, chargé d’une direction administrative. [..] Organe collégial chargé de la gestion des sociétés anonymes. Membre d’un directoire  directeur.27

But the chief is not the only term that needs further explication. While the editor-in-chief is in general responsible for the editorial content, there also needs to be someone or some platform responsible for the business affairs of the newspaper companies. In the Netherlands this is called the ‘directie’ as according to the dictionary these are ‘the people who are concerned with the leadership, the management, and the directors/executives together’. The English term is quite the same. A director is someone who is charge of an activity, department or organization. This ‘board of directors’ is sometimes also defined as ‘a group of people constituted as the decision-making body of an organization.’ Its president is sometimes referred to as CEO, Chief Executive Officer. Finally, the French term does not differ that much. A directeur is a person or team that leads an enterprise. And as we shall see, Le Monde has a directoire, which is the ‘collegial body that is responsible for the management of a public limited company.’ Within each newspaper company the responsibilities of an editor-in-chief and the Board may be divided in its own way. Again, I will

23

Geerts and H. Heestermans, ed., Van Dale Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal a-i, 658.

24

Soanes and Stevenson, ed., Oxford Dictionary of English, 185.

25

Ibidem, 492.

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try to address them as they address themselves and I will use the term Executive Board when I mean the management of the company in general.

Another important group of people are the editorial staff of an editor-in-chief. These are not just the journalists that write for the people, but also the photographers, people from the graphics and lay-out departments for example. Some journalists may have more responsibilities than others, like the Head of a Department. All of them together are the editorial staff. Besides them, there may also be someone responsible for printing the newspaper, like an uitgever, publisher or directeur de la publication. I shall investigate these bodies in the following chapters when I shall take a closer look at the papers in this research to see how this works in the practice of the NRC Handelsblad, The Guardian and Le Monde.

1.1 What has already been written about being editor-in-chief?

I will start with an overview of literature. There has not been written much, because it is a job that is not easy to describe, according to Arendo Joustra, former president of the Dutch Society of Editors-in-chief and hoofdredacteur himself.28 I hope that this thesis can be a good starting point for more research on this matter. The centre of gravity will be on the Netherlands and, to a lesser extent the Anglo-Saxon literature, because of its availability. As a researcher in the Netherlands I find that there is much less French literature than Dutch or English literature on this topic. Another problematic factor is that French libraries in general do not like to loan out their material to foreign researchers.

Anglo-Saxon literature

All literature I have found about the position of the editor-in-chief can be roughly divided into two parts. First is the Anglo-Saxon management literature that focuses on the editor-in-chief as the manager of a media company. Literature like Managing Media Companies from Annet Aris and Jacques Bughin is usually quite general and therefore not always applicable on editors-in-chief from newspapers. The same goes for Lucy Küng’s Strategic Management in

the Media. Literature can be clearly written from an American point of view, like Robert Giles,

who in ‘Change shape trends in newspaper management’ concludes that newspaper employers have to deal with all kinds of laws, legislations and liability risks.29 This is very typical for the American culture in which lawsuits are quite a common practice.

Sometimes more practical books surface, like Magazine editing for editors-in-chief, which sometimes reads like a Dummies-book for magazine editors.30 Newspaper editors may profit

28

Van der Meulen, ed., Storm in de media, 154.

29_{Robert Giles, ‘Change shapes trends in newspaper management’, Newspaper Research Journal 14 (1993) 2: 38.}

30_{Benton Rain Patterson and Coleman E.P. Patterson, The editor-in-chief. A management guide for magazine editors (Ames:}

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from Carl Sessions Stepp’s Editing for today’s newsroom, in which he processed his editing experience into a handy guide for (new) editors. The book contains chapters on making decisions about people and content, how to coach writers and how to present the news. He seems to focus more on mid-level editors, but also comments on executive editors (like an editor-in-chief) who are sometimes completely out of the news flow.31

In general, researchers feel that the subject of leadership in the media industry is ‘arguably the single most neglected area of research and theory development in the field of media management.’32_{Lucy Küng also writes that leadership in the media is an}

under-researched field. There is a lot of leadership theory, but it is difficult to apply it to the media.33 There are several reasons for this. One of them is that it is hard to measure journalistic output, because it is very different from producing products in a factory for example. It is more about quality instead of quantity. Another reason is that journalists are very smart people that do not like to be managed, which makes it difficult for an editor-in-chief to lead them. But when there is research on leadership behaviour and its effects in the media industry, it must be examined systematically.34

Dutch literature

The second path is the recent interest in the Netherlands on the position of the editor-in-chief in their country. The Dutch Society of Editors-in-chief created Storm in de media with articles about journalistic problems and two editors-in-chief debating about them. The (former) president of the Society brought together a series of articles on this topic from Anglo-Saxon and Dutch literature, from 1885 till now, in Handboek Hoofdredacteur. And recently, students of the University of Groningen interviewed Dutch editors-in-chief of television and newspapers. 21 of those interviews were published in De hoofdredacteur with introductions and epilogues by media historians Huub Wijfjes en Bas de Jong. This is not the first time that Dutch editors-in-chief are interviewed about their job. In 1960 Dutch journalist Bibeb wrote a series of eight interviews with Dutch editors-in-chief for the weekly magazine Vrij Nederland.

A lot of information about the editor-in-chief can also be found in memoirs or biographies. Sytze van der Zee for example wrote a book about his days at Dutch daily Het Parool. Sometimes commemorative literature appeared when an editor left his post, like the De

hoofdredacteur that was written when Harry Lockefeer left de Volkskrant. And in older

literature about making a newspaper there is usually a chapter on the editor-in-chief, like in Robert Peereboom’s Het dagblad and L.J. Plemp van Duiveland’s Journalistiek in Nederland.

31

Carl Sessions Stepp, Editing for Today’s Newsroom (New York: Routledge, 2008) 40.

32

Alan Albarran, Sylvia Chan-Olmsted and Michael Wirth, ed., Handbook of Media Management and Economics (New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2006) 52.

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In the remaining paragraphs of this chapter I have used the information from these books and articles to investigate the role of the editor-in-chief.

1.2 What about being editor-in-chief?

In the introduction of this chapter I have tried to define what an editor-in-chief is. That was not easy, just as the job of an editor-in-chief is not easy. It is a heavy and responsible task, not only physically but emotionally as well.35 It is physically heavy, because some editors-in-chief work sixty hours or more per week. 36 And it is emotionally heavy, because important decisions have to be made that can have quite an impact, like firing people. The editor-in-chief needs to do everything right and he has his responsibilities towards the Executive Board, the publisher, the editorial staff and the reader. 37 An editor-in-chief wants to please them all, but also has to deal with conflicting interests. Despite all of this, most editors-in-chief say that they love what they are doing.38

Since journalists are not the best managers, why not put a real manager on the spot? Former editor-in-chief Annemieke Besseling of regional Dutch daily Brabants Dagblad explains: ‘Independence and reliability are important values to us that are not always known outside of journalism.’39

That is why it would not work to bring in a factory or bank manager into a newspaper. It is important to have a journalistic background and knowledge of journalism in order to make decisions for a newspaper.40 They know the culture, and can cope with deadlines and journalistic pitfalls.41 Other editors-in-chief feel that they should be an example for their journalists. If the editor-in-chief himself cannot write a top story, then he cannot expect his staff to do so.42 So most editors-in-chief have a journalistic background, but they do not all have managing experience when they started as editor-in-chief. Some say they feel more like a manager than a journalist, or even a mental coach or entrepreneur.43 This trend is noted by Wijfjes and De Jong: in the newsroom the editor-in-chief is (or must be) a journalist, for the Executive Board he is (or must be) an entrepreneur.44

35

Pieter Broertjes, Media onder vuur. Verweer van een hoofdredacteur (Amsterdam: Nederlands Genootschap van Hoofdredacteuren, 2006) 76.

36_{Van der Meulen, ed., Storm in de media, 58.} 37

Wim Jansen, Redactionele efficiency (Monnickendam: Automotive Publishing 2008) 7.

38

39_{Servaas van der Laan and Josca Westerhof, ‘Leidinggeven zit in mijn karakter, ik ben geen volgend iemand (Annemieke}

Besseling, tot april 2011 hoofdredacteur Brabants Dagblad)’, in De hoofdredacteur, ed. Huub Wijfjes and Bas de Jong (Diemen: AMB, 2011) 79.

40_{Tameling, ‘Journalisten zijn over het algemeen beroerde managers (Philippe Remarque, hoofdredacteur de Volkskrant)’, in}

De hoofdredacteur, ed. Wijfjes and De Jong, 41.

41

Jansen, Redactionele efficiency, 14.

42_{Daan de Ridder, ‘Ik vind dat een journalistiek leider van een krant geen tijd zou móéten hebben om directeursfuncties te}

vervullen (Marcel van Lingen, tot oktober 2011 directeur/hoofdredacteur GPD)’, in De hoofdredacteur, ed. Huub Wijfjes and Bas de Jong, (Diemen: AMB 2011) 161.

43_{Cuperus and Wijfjes, ‘De hoofdredacteur is de representant van de lezer (Pieter Sijpersma, hoofdredacteur Dagblad van het}

Noorden)’, in De hoofdredacteur, ed. Wijfjes and De Jong, 65 & 106 & Sytze van der Zee, ´De macht van de hoofdredacteur´, de Gids 164 (2001) 7: 651.

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1.2.1 How to become one?

There is no clear pathway to become editor-in-chief. Some say they wanted the job in order to make changes possible.45 They like the responsibility that comes with the job and want to make their ideas happen.46 Other editors-in-chief describe their way to the top as a natural process.47 Though there is no training or education to become an editor-in-chief, there are a few striking similarities between editors-in-chief:

1. They all have a journalistic background. Whether they learned the job in the field or studied journalism, all of them are trained journalists.48 In the past this wasn’t always the case. There have been Dutch politicians, who were editor-in-chief as well.49 Editors-in-chief without a journalistic background, almost always had an academic title.50

2. It is important that there is a job opening. In general, editors-in-chief get asked.51 Some of them got promoted at the company where they work, others transferred from another newspaper or magazines. Sometimes there is a job opening and candidates get asked or may apply. This is how Peter Vandermeersch became editor-in-chief of NRC

Handelsblad.

3. Finally, it is important to have the support of the Executive Board or editorial staff or whoever is in charge of selecting the new editor-in-chief. Each organization has its own procedure for this (possibly described in editorial statutes) but it is common that the editorial staff has a say in who their editor-in-chief is going to be. Sometimes the Board has the final vote.52

1.2.2 How has the job description of being editor-in-chief changed?

Just like technology and society is changing, journalism and the function of an editor-in-chief are changing with it. In the sixties, editors-in-chief were for example concerned by the development of the television and high paper prices.53 A lot has been written about the ‘old journalism’ where the journalist decided what should be in the newspaper. ‘The editorial staff makes the newspaper, not the reader’, was the title of an interview with an editor-in-chief in

De hoofdredacteur, ed. Wijfjes and De Jong, 3 & Piscaer, ‘Het is een hele dienstbare functie (Jan Geert Majoor, hoofdredacteur HDC Media)’, in De hoofdredacteur, ed. Wijfjes and De Jong, 105.

46_{Piscaer, ‘Het is een hele dienstbare functie (Jan Geert Majoor, hoofdredacteur HDC Media)’, in De hoofdredacteur, ed. Wijfjes}

and De Jong, 105.

47_{Daan de Ridder, ‘Het spanningsveld tussen journalistiek en zakendoen, dat maakt dit leven spannend en aangenaam (Erik}

van Gruijthuijsen, tot juli 2011 directeur/hoofdredacteur ANP)’, in De hoofdredacteur, ed. Huub Wijfjes and Bas de Jong (Diemen: AMB, 2011) 147-148.

48

Wijfjes and De Jong, ed., De hoofdredacteur.

49_{Robert Peereboom, Het dagblad (Haarlem: De erven F. Bohn, 1955) 125.}

50_{Bibeb, ‘Het is erg als er over onze krant niet wordt gesproken’, Vrij Nederland, 16-4-1960, 3 & Bibeb, ‘Louis Frequin: ‘Als je er}

goed bij doordenkt draag je een enorme verantwoordelijkheid’’, Vrij Nederland, 11-6-1960, 3 & Bibeb, ‘Niet de lezer, maar de redactie maakt de krant’, Vrij Nederland, 12-3-1960, 3.

51

Wijfjes and De Jong, ed., De hoofdredacteur, 261.

52_{Gerard Schuijt, Werkers van het woord (Deventer: Kluwer, 1987) 268-269.}

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1960.54 Now we have ‘new journalism’ that presumes the reader is the most important.55 This affected the tasks and position of an editor-in-chief. ‘The old editor-in-chief was a man of stature who wasn’t bothered with the looks of a newspaper. People would read it anyway. He also wasn’t interested in commerce, it sold anyway. But the new generation however, is interested in appearance and saleability of a newspaper’, says current Dutch editor-in-chief Barbara van Beukering of Het Parool.56

This meant a different position and a broader range of tasks to fulfil for an editor-in-chief. ‘In the old days he used to be the journalistic face of a newspaper, but the last twenty years he became more and more responsible for changes in the newspaper department, efficiency in conducting the business, technological innovation and almost permanent reorganizations of the editorial staff.’57_{With declining numbers of readers and advertisers,}

and the economic crisis, editors-in-chief are forced to take action and be creative.58

1.2.3 What is the relation of an editor-in-chief with his Executive Board?

He is responsible for the company and I am responsible for the newspaper and my people.59 This brief definition of former editor-in-chief Sytze van der Zee of Dutch daily Het Parool describes the relation between these top managers. According Aris and Bughin’s theory on transformers and creators, an editor-in-chief may be called a creator for he is responsible for the creative side of the newspaper: the content. The transformer is the (or more than one) Executive Officer that takes care of finances and commercial plans.60 The publisher usually also is a part of the Executive Board in a newspaper company.

Some say an editor-in-chief shouldn’t be a member of the Board, some say he should be. There have been a lot of debates about combining these jobs or not. Nowadays, a minority of editors-in-chief also takes place in the Executive Board. The editors-in-chief that are just editor-in-chief regularly meet with their Executive(s). It all depends upon agreements that are made, how often and where they meet one another. They may discuss amongst others distribution and printing, the future and identity of the newspaper, financial matters, the number of pages of the newspaper, commercial aspects, subscriptions and new supplements. In the Netherlands, there usually is a clear separation between the Board and an editor-in-chief. This may even be formally noted in an editorial statute. The aim for most journalists is to have journalistic independence from commercial aspects. In practice, this may not always be the case. Especially free sheets depend very much on advertisers.

54_{Bibeb, ‘Niet de lezer, maar de redactie maakt de krant’, 3.}

55_{Leon de Wolff, De krant is koning (Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Bert Bakker 2005), 82-83.}

56_{Servaas van der Laan and Josca Westerhof, ‘Ik ben soms een wolf in schaapskleren (Barbara van Beukering, hoofdredacteur}

Het Parool)’, in De hoofdredacteur, ed. Huub Wijfjes and Bas de Jong (Diemen: AMB, 2011) 57.

57

58

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1.2.4 What do editors-in-chief think about taking part in the Executive Board as well?

In recent years, the boundaries between editor-in-chief and Executive Board are fading. Technological developments, the scale up in the media industry, the introduction of new types of media and the need to think commercially; all of this made the editor-in-chief become a business leader next to his responsibilities as journalistic leader.61 An editor-in-chief must have some knowledge of financial matters, marketing, limits and targets. And the Executives must understand what product they are selling. It is important for an editor-in-chief to be a worthy discussion partner and to defend the journalistic interests.62

Some dailies have constructions in which the editor-in-chief is also part of the Executive Board. Birgit Donker was editor-in-chief and Board member of NRC Handelsblad (2006-2010), because she feels that it is important that the interests of the staff are represented in the Executive Board.63 Ulko Jonger of the financial-oriented Dutch daily Het

Financieele Dagblad agrees that the line between journalistic independence and commercial

interests is fine since he is editor-in-chief and member of the Board, but it was never crossed.64 Wijfjes and de Jong believe that there is no solution fit for all situations. But in general it can be said that innovations in the media need journalistic input and therefore combining these positions does not seem like a bad idea.65

Other editors-in-chief fear a conflict of interest. One could forget about the journalistic aspects and focus too much on commercialism or think too much about the journalistic interest and forget commercial things.66 There is also a risk that advertisers want to influence what is being published.67 Editors-in-chief should be able to make decisions on a journalistic basis and ignore commercial interests.68 Sometimes, an editor-in-chief steps over to the Board. Members of the Board do not become editors-in-chief, since they lack certain knowledge because the cultures are too different.69 They also miss a journalistic background

1.2.5 How does an editor-in-chief relate to his editorial staff?

The attitude of the editor-in-chief towards his journalists has changed the last few decades. Sytze van der Zee remembers his first editor-in-chief, who in the sixties had his office a floor higher than the journalists, had its own toilet and who hardly ever visited the newsroom.

61

Wijfjes and De Jong, ed., De hoofdredacteur, 16 & 276.

62

Jansen, Redactionele efficiency, 17 & 19.

63_{Laura van Dam and Bas de Jong, ‘Winstgevendheid is een waarborg voor onafhankelijkheid (Birgit Donker, tot juni 2010}

hoofdredacteur NRC Handelsblad)’, in De hoofdredacteur, ed. Huub Wijfjes and Bas de Jong (Diemen: AMB, 2011) 50.

64_{Klaske Tameling and Josca Westerhof, ‘Ik heb ons niet altijd voldoende voorbereid op de digitale slag (Ulko Jonker, tot}

januari 2011 hoofdredacteur Het Financieele Dagblad)’, in De hoofdredacteur, ed. Huub Wijfjes and Bas de Jong (Diemen: AMB, 2011) 88.

65_{Wijfjes and De Jong, ed., De hoofdredacteur, 277.}

66_{Cuperus and Wijfjes, ‘De hoofdredacteur is de representant van de lezer (Pieter Sijpersma, hoofdredacteur Dagblad van het}

Noorden)’, in De hoofdredacteur, ed. Wijfjes and De Jong, 72.

67_{De Ridder, ‘Ik vind dat een journalistiek leider van een krant geen tijd zou móéten hebben om directeursfuncties te vervullen}

(Marcel van Lingen, tot oktober 2011 directeur/hoofdredacteur GPD)’, in De hoofdredacteur, ed. Wijfjes and De Jong, 151-152.

68_{Schuijt, Werkers van het woord, 259.}

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There were no meetings with the editorial staff and he only knew journalists who worked there long enough. He decided on whoever gets what place in the hierarchy and saw his editorial staff only on pay-days and when there were problems.70 As we shall see, the situation is completely different now.

A much heard complaint is that the relationship with (former) co-workers has changed. As a boss there is always a certain distance between journalist and editor-in-chief, but Erik van Gruijthuisen (who was editor-in-chief of Het Parool from 2001-2007) also noticed a difference between being an editor-in-chief at the newspaper where he ‘grew up’ and the news agency ANP where he was the new editor-in-chief.71 However, the relationship between an in-chief and his staff is very important, because without his staff an editor-in-chief cannot make a paper.

1.3 What are the tasks of an editor-in-chief?

‘I also regularly get invitations for press conferences. ‘PERSONAL’ it says above the notification. It sometimes takes some effort to explain that this is not one of my tasks. ‘Can you sent someone then?’ is the next question and then I send him to the chef of the department who is in charge of dividing the daily workload. At that point the person on the other end of the line is silent because he does not understand.’72 This story is what really happened to former Dutch editor-in-chief Tony van der Meulen (Brabants Dagblad). It is very hard for a non-journalist to grasp what being an in-chief entails. And not every editor-in-chief has the same responsibilities and tasks as his colleague. I have distinguished three factors that determine which responsibilities and tasks an editor-in-chief might have:

1. In the fifties Peereboom wrote that the daily duties of an editor-in-chief depend on the size of his newspaper. In smaller dailies the editor-in-chief lacks good personnel and is forced to write articles, whereas the editor-in-chief of a national newspaper needs to spend more time to his representative tasks.73 Currently, editors-in-chief spent a small amount of their time (if any at all) on writing columns or leader articles.74

2. Editors-in-chief usually have deputies and they divide their tasks. When Sytze van der Zee was editor-in-chief of Het Parool he left financial and personnel matters to his deputy.75 An editor-in-chief usually delegates the tasks he’s not so good at or interested

70_{Van der Zee. ‘De macht van de hoofdredacteur’, 647-648.}

71_{Van Dam and De Jong, ‘Winstgevendheid is een waarborg voor onafhankelijkheid (Birgit Donker, tot juni 2010 hoofdredacteur}

NRC Handelsblad)’, in De hoofdredacteur, ed. Wijfjes and De Jong, 53 & De Ridder, ‘Het spanningsveld tussen journalistiek en

zakendoen, dat maakt dit leven spannend en aangenaam (Erik van Gruijthuijsen, tot juli 2011 directeur/hoofdredacteur ANP)’, in

De hoofdredacteur, ed. Wijfjes and De Jong, 155.

72_{Tony van der Meulen, ‘De hoofdredacteur hoort op de redactie’, in Handboek hoofdredacteur, ed. Arendo Joustra}

(Amsterdam: Elsevier/Reed Business, 2010), 84.

73

Peereboom, Het dagblad, 132-133.

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in. In the Netherlands most of them leave the real newspaper-making to their deputies and the editors-in-chief themselves focus on managerial tasks.76

3. No newspaper is the same and the organizations behind them can differ as well. This means that each editor-in-chief has a different role. One can be the editor-in-chief of one newspaper, which is quite usual for national dailies. Regional dailies nowadays might be part of a concern, sometimes with more than ten editions. It is impossible to always be in the newsroom for these editors-in-chief, so they have to rely on deputies.77 Finally one can be an editorial manager who is in charge of several editors-in-chief and their papers or magazines. An example is American Hedley Donovan who worked for Time Inc. as the highest editor-in-chief of Fortune and Life.78

The following list describes the tasks that editors-in-chief might have. I do not pretend to give a full and detailed overview, but these are the most common tasks for editors-in-chief. They may share these tasks with one or more deputies. In the three remaining chapters I will explain how the editors-in-chief fulfil these tasks within their companies.

1.3.1 Towards his Executive Board?

From the editorial staff, the editor-in-chief is one of the few to have contact with the Executive Board. Sometimes, he can even be part of the Board as well. In the first paragraph of this chapter I have explained what an Executive Board is. This body may also be referred to as the ‘directie’, Board or ‘directoire’. When dealing with the Executive Board, the editor-in-chief seems to have two roles: that of the journalistic leader and that of a businessman. He must also represent the interests of his journalists with the Executive Board, but also represent the Board when meeting his journalists. The editorial staff and the Executive Board may have conflicting interests and an editor-in-chief is in the middle of this.

Being the journalistic leader: The meetings with the Board give the editor-in-chief a chance

to show his vision and present his ideas for innovating. If necessary, he must also defend journalistic values over there. He is in fact representing the interests of the editorial staff.

- Vision and innovation: Together with the Executive Board an editor-in-chief decides

where the paper is going. As Bart Brouwers, Dutch editor-in-chief of free newspaper

Sp!ts, says: ‘The editor-in-chief is not there for tomorrow’s newspaper, but for the one

that comes out the day after that, or next week or next month.’79_{The editor-in-chief}

usually has an important role and say in this, because he has experience and knows how

76_{Wijfjes and De Jong, ed., De hoofdredacteur, 273.}

77_{Van der Laan and Westerhof, ‘Leidinggeven zit in mijn karakter, ik ben geen volgend iemand (Annemieke Besseling, tot april}

2011 hoofdredacteur Brabants Dagblad)’, in De hoofdredacteur ed. Wijfjes and De Jong, 79.

78_{Hedley Donovan, ‘Managen wat niet te managen is’, in Handboek hoofdredacteur, ed. Arendo Joustra (Amsterdam:}

Elsevier/Reed Business 2010) 35 & 52.

79_{Piscaer, ‘Het is een hele dienstbare functie (Jan Geert Majoor, hoofdredacteur HDC Media)’, in De hoofdredacteur, ed. Wijfjes}

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to make newspapers. He usually comes up with new plans and tries to persuade the Executives, who do not have the same amount of feeling with the newspaper business but do know how organizations work. The Board has a vote in the process as well, especially because they decide the margins in which an editor-in-chief can operate. Important issues are moving to another newsroom, shall we publish on tabloid instead of broadsheet, will we become an evening edition, et cetera.

- Keeping the journalistic values and journalistic independence: Most journalists will agree

that the Executive Board is responsible for the company, practical and commercial aspects, while the editor-in-chief is responsible for the editorial aspects of the paper. It may be that the Board wants to exert too much influence on the contents of the newspaper (the choice of stories, or tone for example), so it is then up to the editor-in-chief to defend the journalistic independence. This is especially hard for editors-in-editor-in-chief who are also part of the Board, because they sometimes have to think like an editor-in-chief and sometimes like a Board member. To provide more clarity and to protect the journalistic values, it may be good to have an editorial statute (or other agreement) in which the tasks and rights of both parties are described.

- Representation: In meetings with Executives and Boards it is up to the editor-in-chief to

defend the way he handles the editorial side of the newspaper. Why did he (and the editorial staff) choose to publish a certain scoop that caused a lawsuit? Or why did he use a certain approach as hacking for a news story? All of these questions are relevant in the recent discussion about tabloids in Britain. It also works the other way around. If the Board(s) decide(s) that the chief has to fire journalists for example, the editor-in-chief is the one to break this news to his staff. Sometimes they even take bad news better, because it came from one of their own: the editor-in-chief.80 This is internal representation.

- Meetings: An editor-in-chief and the Board meet each other a certain amount of times per

year. It depends per organization how often they see each other. There may be rules about how often the Board and editor-in-chief organize a meeting together. There may also be other managerial layers, like a Board of Directors and a Supervisory Board. Sometimes there is a General Meeting of Shareholders. Every organization is different, so each newspaper has its own organizational structure. However, the editor-in-chief must meet up with all of them sooner or later and represent the editorial side of the paper. It speaks for itself that during these meetings only important, drastical and long term subjects are being discussed. Examples are the identity of the paper, a possible transition to broadsheet, the number of pages, the introduction of a weekend magazine, a

80_{Eva Jinek, ‘Bezuinigingen gaan altijd ten koste van kwaliteit’, in Storm in de media, ed. Tony van der Meulen (Amsterdam:}

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move to another newsroom, et cetera. The journalistic views of an editor-in-chief are appreciated during these meetings.

Being a businessman: Making profits, that is want the shareholders and the Board want

from the editor-in-chief. He is working on this all through the year. Also, he must make sure that financial matters are taken care of. In the end, an editor-in-chief must answer for himself and his financial matters to the Board in their meetings. He is also the face of the newspaper, so when representing the paper, he is also representing the entire company.

- Making profits: The most important task of an editor-in-chief is to produce a newspaper,

whether he does this himself or trusts people to do this for him. But the Board will also expect a certain profit, increase in the circulation numbers or subscriptions or growth at the end of the year. It may be that these agreements have been verified in a contract. If the target has not been reached, the Board can decide on measures like decreasing the editorial budget. Peter Vandermeersch: ‘If we hired too much freelancers, I get addressed to this by the Board.’81_{If all goes well, the editor-in-chief can receive compliments and in}

some cases, financial rewards. In the Anglo-Saxon world it is common for an editor-in-chief to have a share in the company and thus being rewarded if the target is reached. The Dutch oppose this, because they believe an editor-in-chief serves the interest of the editorial staff and the reader, the company he works for comes second and his personal affairs come at the last place.82

- Financial management: The Executive Board is in charge of the company and decides on

the amount of space that an editor-in-chief might have. There may be some discussion, but the Board has the final say which budget is available. It is up to the editor-in-chief to divide the money into the departments of the newspaper. It is also important that the editor-in-chief does not cross the budget, or else there may be consequences. Since finance is so important and complicated, it may be well possible that there is a Board member who is devoted especially to Finance (a CFO or Chief Financial Officer).

- Representation: An editor-in-chief is the face of a newspaper and speaks on behalf of the

paper.83 This means that if he speaks in public, he indirectly also represents the company and the Executive Board. Some Executives search the limelight themselves, like Derk Sauer who went to a talk show with editor-in-chief Peter Vandermeersch.84 This is external representation.

81

Interview with P. Vandermeersch, hoofdredacteur of NRC Handelsblad, 25-1-2012.

82

De hoofdredacteur, ed. Wijfjes and De Jong, 37 & Van der Laan and Westerhof, ‘Ik ben soms een wolf in schaapskleren

(Barbara van Beukering, hoofdredacteur Het Parool)’, in De hoofdredacteur, ed. Wijfjes and De Jong, 55.

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- Meetings: As an editor-in-chief meets up with the Board to discuss editorial matters, they

will also address managerial and business matters in these meetings. Together they will decide upon the budgets, the printing and distribution of the paper and the editor-in-chief must answer to the Board and/or shareholders for making a certain profit. During meetings of this kind, he seems to be more a businessman than a journalist.

1.3.2 Towards his editorial staff?

The editor-in-chief can be seen as part of the editorial staff, but he also is the one to lead them. He is there for his staff on an emotional and material level and together they have one main goal: to produce a newspaper.

Delivering a product: An editor-in-chief is usually the one that thinks of the long term, so

new ideas for the paper in the future like a transfer to tabloid or new supplements. It is his responsibility to make a newspaper that has a certain set of journalistic values in it. He may have delegated the making of the newspaper to his deputies. During conferences and meetings throughout the day, the paper is discussed and made. Sometimes conflicts arise and journalistic values are discussed. Most editors-in-chief do not write anymore.

- Making the newspaper: At the end of the day an editorial staff must deliver a newspaper

and it is the responsibility of the editor-in-chief to make this happens, whether he leads the paper and writes articles himself or has put other people in charge. He decides which news will open the paper and which article will get extra exposure. This is not just something done on a daily basis, but the editor-in-chief also decides how the newspaper should be in general terms. He can remove or introduce new columnists or features, or put more opiniated articles in the paper.

- Vision and innovation: When certain innovations have been decided upon, they must be

realized by the staff. It is up to the editor-in-chief to implement these. When the newspaper gets a new weekend magazine, the editor-in-chief must appoint certain journalists to write articles. Editors-in-chief must also have open ears and eyes, to be able to anticipate on the changing world of journalism. Technological innovations like tabloids and smart phones force newspapers to go along and create their own programs and apps.85 The world is changing and editors-in-chief must think of a strategy.

- Meetings: The editor-in-chief usually meets with the editorial staff about today’s or

tomorrow’s paper. It can be that one meets with all journalists or just with the chefs of the

85_{Nicole Cordewener, ‘Journalistiek onafhankelijk? Zeer bewust op geen enkele manier (Jan-Jaap Heij, hoofdredacteur De}

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different departments. In the fifties meetings were not even held.86 Nowadays, editors-in-chief in general try to be at those gatherings as often as they can.87

- Keeping the journalistic values and journalistic independence: What is good journalism

and what is not? Whenever there is a journalistic debate, the editor-in-chief is usually the one to hear about these dilemmas and together with (certain members of) the staff he will make a decision. He has responsibilities towards the staff, the editorial committee, the publisher and the Board.88 His journalistic independence may be threatened very often, by the Executive Board, by politicians or advertisers who try to influence the editor-in-chief. They have conflicting interests. This became clear in 2002 when Dutch movie maker and columnist Theo van Gogh was murdered by a Muslim fundamentalist. The government invited twenty editors-in-chief for a discussion. Their message was that the ladies and the gentlemen of the press should hold back in their reporting of the murder. The country faced social problems and the newspapers should help to get everyone on the right path again. The meeting proved to be a failure, or as editor-in-chief Arendo Joustra said: ‘We only have to answer to our readers’.89

- Writing: An editor-in-chief usually has experience as a journalist, so he is able to write

and produce articles. Still, he spends most of his time on managing and bureaucratic tasks. Of course, this differs per editor-in-chief. Most say they do not have time to write articles.90 Others feel that writing can be left to the journalists, and the managing has to be done by the editor-in-chief.91 In general it can be said that editors-in-chief do not write for their paper anymore.

Taking care of his journalists on an emotional level: Being an editor-in-chief does not

stop at hiring or firing journalists. He must inspire and motivate them, coach them when they need to. But also, when they have problems an editor-in-chief should be there for his staff. He needs to be in the newsroom to be seen and thus be an example. When necessary, he must support his journalists unconditionally and represent them externally. On an internal level, he represents the Board within the newsroom and vice versa. Some editors-in-chief lead their staff by still writing articles to show the staff how it is done and what the paper’s opinion is.

86_{Peereboom, Het dagblad, 133.}

NRC Handelsblad)’, in De hoofdredacteur, ed. Wijfjes and De Jong, 51 & Van der Laan and Westerhof, ‘Ik ben soms een wolf in schaapskleren (Barbara van Beukering, hoofdredacteur Het Parool)’, in De hoofdredacteur, ed. Wijfjes and De Jong, 59 & Cuperus and Wijfjes, ‘De hoofdredacteur is de representant van de lezer (Pieter Sijpersma, hoofdredacteur Dagblad van het

Noorden)’, in De hoofdredacteur, ed. Wijfjes and De Jong, 69.

88_{Van der Zee, ‘De macht van de hoofdredacteur’, 652} 89

Broertjes, Media onder vuur. Verweer van een hoofdredacteur, 44.

NRC Handelsblad)’, in De hoofdredacteur, ed. Wijfjes and De Jong, 51.

91_{Dorien Vrieling, ‘Schrijven kun je overlaten aan redacteuren, het managen niet (Arendo Joustra, hoofdredacteur Elsevier)’, in}