Who Should Decide the Editorial Decisions?

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Permalink Reply by Tim Dees on November 4, 2008 at 5:53pm

This depends on how large a publication is under discussion. I have the title "editor-in-chief," which sounds really impressive until you discover there are no other editors. I make the editorial decisions alone, although I will occasionally consult the marketing folks and editors of associated publications if the story has some potential impact on an advertiser or one of the other pub's writers. That's just courtesy to keep other people from being blindsided.

If you have a bigger pub with separate sections (sports, fashion, tech, news, whatever), then the day-to-day stuff is left to the editor of that section, keeping the EIC in the loop for the broad strokes.

Your question infers to me that you have had some other experience that causes you to question one method over the other. Care to illuminate?

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Permalink Reply by Jim Carper on November 7, 2008 at 1:46pm

There should be a team approach, but ultimately it is the EIC who has to make the decision. It is his/her rear-end on the line at the end of the day.
the "god-like" approach is a sure-fire way to make staff feel as if they have no say-so in their work life. (To be honest, I have lived both sides of that situation.)

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Permalink Reply by Mary Rarick on January 6, 2009 at 4:48am

I agree wholeheartedly, Jim.

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Permalink Reply by Kathe Lemon on November 26, 2008 at 10:29pm

I think it depends not only on the size of the publication, but what is going on at the publication. There are certain decisions and crises that have to be solved by the person at the top, but others are best made by a group with input from various players -- not only to get buy-in from the various people and parts of the publication, but also to have a greater knowledge base to draw from.
The god like approach can make staff feel like they have no say and no voice -- which is usually not what writers and editors want. But the team approach can also make people feel like no one's steering the ship. There has to be a balance appropriate to the size and situation of the magazine.

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Permalink Reply by Kerry Smith on November 27, 2008 at 9:05am

That's easy. The editor. That's the reason they're at the top of the masthead. Of course, if the editor has a team they will discuss and debate content, strategy, etc., but at the end of the day, you can only have one person in charge who is setting editorial direction, maintaining the voice of the publication, cultivating key relationships, and representing the brand to the marketplace. The other members of the edit team are there to execute the strategy and mission that is set by the editor.

Management by committee never works -- it wastes time, creates confusion, risks internal dissention, and creates a dangerous distance between the magazine and the readerships,

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Permalink Reply by Arjun Basu on December 1, 2008 at 4:27pm

An EIC has to be the one in charge, ultimately. As Editorial Director, I'm a consultant, more or less, within the company and a resource for all the EIC's on staff for various publications. A Publisher is also bound to throw their hat in the ring. But in the end, a democratic approach to the creative process makes for a confused message. An EIC is the keeper of the brand, as it were. And so when making decisions should be taking a lot of different views into account. But then making the final decision.

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