The editorial staff provides material for publication and pre­pares the subject-matter called ‘copy’ for the printer and the engraver.

Big newspapers have elaborate editorial staff consisting of many editors and sub-editors as in charges of various sub-sections, designated as Editor, Managing Editor, News Editor, Sunday Editor, Sports Editor, Women’s Editor, Picture Editor, Society Editor, Drama Editor, Literary Editor, Music Editor, Art Editor, etc.

Small newspapers combine many of these positions, or drop some altoge­ther, and have an editorial staff consisting of ten to fifteen persons. The editorial department is the record section of a newspaper. It also maintains a library, where, beside other relevant books, extensive files of clippings and photographs are maintained.

The Editor:

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To be the editor of a daily newspaper with a nation-wide circu­lation is an ambition which very few journalists can attain.

There are however occasions when many intelligent reporters and correspon­dents are satisfied with the excitement and thrill of their job and do not relish to have the ambition of a more ordered routine of an in­door job of the editor, even though it may bring them greater name and fame.

Like the newspaper itself, the functions and res­ponsibilities of the editor keep on changing. When there were few newspapers the editor was regarded as a potentate who ruled by the force of his personality and was a terror for his opponents.

The editorial board of a large newspaper carried more power than it does now. Present day newspapers are more led by the public opinion than they lead it. The reason is that a newspaper has become a commercial organisation rather than a political institution as it used to be in the olden days.

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The editor, in order to maintain and increase the cir­culation day-by-day, month-by-month and year-by-year, has to compute the public mind and express opinions in the light of popular trends prevailing from time to time. If any of the major newspapers were to take an elitist approach, it may be classified as an anti-people newspaper and many of its readers may not only stop buying it but also build public opinion against it. For this reason most of the editors give out their ideas and opinions on current issues after gauging the public mind. Moreover, there is a great limitation on modern editorial control.

The individual opinions of an editor are subject to all the views of his colleagues, correspondents and members of the editorial board. No newspaper allows one-man control, how­ever intelligent the editor may be. The editorial policy of a news­paper is usually guided by an editor-in-chief, a managing editor, assistant editors, the news editor and half a dozen specialist editors. The first three of them usually form the real editorial trio.

They mutually decide upon the programme and policy of the newspaper regarding interviews of national and international personalities and write leader articles on important subjects or events.

In large news­papers, there are separate editors, under a Chief Editor, each specia­lising in a particular subject. Depending upon the work assigned, be is designated as News Editor, Sports Editor, Literary Editor,; Commercial Editor, Art Editor, etc.

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Public Relation Dues of Editorial Work

The Editor of a Newspaper must have patience, human sympathy, a working acquaintance with type and how to use it; the faculty of being able to distinguish between public right and public wrong as well as private right and private wrong. He must be an all round intellectual, knowing the essentials of the history of the world and of human nature.

He should be able to discriminate between honest publicists and smooth-tongued propagandists. Above all he must possess a courageous heart which enables him to say “yes” or “no” at the right time.

He should be able to inspire confidence in his staff whom he can presumably trust. He should not build an iron curtain around him­self through which he emerges only on rare occasions.

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In the editorial- ship every member of the crew has his job to do and there is nothing more depressing for the able-bodied seaman or the cabin boy than to realise that the captain does not know him either by name or by sight.

The good Editor makes it a point of honour to know his staff and to recognise personally a notable piece of work. There is no harm in an occasional descent from the Mount Olympus, as the Editor’s room is nicknamed, to visit the reporter’s room to see the paper ‘put to motion’.

Perhaps the greatest lesson one could learn in newspaper life is that unless the spirit of good companionship prevails, the workers labour largely in vain. If a grave issue of any kind arises it is the Editor s duty to take the final decision without fear or favour, how­ever much any member of his staff may differ from it.

As long as they know that he has discussed the pros and cons with his advisers around him and not merely retired behind his iron curtain, he will retain their respect and esteem.

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Field Duties:

The horizon of the Editor of a daily newspaper is not limited by the walls of his office. He must keep in touch with public opinion by mixing with the leaders in every walk of life. His life is so hectic that his luncheon table has to become an adjunct of the editorial desk.

An hour or an hour and a half over luncheon can be a great help to a newspaper man in straightening out his views on an urgent public issue; an action contemplated by a Minister of the Cabinet or a dispute in industry. There are also occasions when the conscientious Editor travels far afield.

Round-the-Clock Routine:

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From early morning to midnight, the Editor is on duty either in the office or on his round of visits and even then he is never certain that his sleep will not be disturbed by the arrival of a vital piece of news. Yet no Editor of a daily news­paper ever wishes to change his job – unless, possibly, to migrate to another newspaper. For he enjoys the thrill of knowing that he is helping to make history.

His burden is lighter when he knows that he has at his elbow one or more assistant editor’s ready to take some of the strain from him when life gets too hectic. His assistants who specialize in particular fields such as home and political news, the news from overseas and the financial news, are usually eager to divide the burden with him.

Writing of Leading Articles:

There are divided views as to whe­ther the Editor himself should write leading articles or whether he should confine himself to briefing other members of his staff. In any case, in the opinion of many, the Editor should not write regularly.

A leader from his pen should be an event of special importance and should be reserved for very important occasions. Most leader writers are able to assimilate very quickly the ideas which the Editor has passed on to them before they begin to write, and it is always the Editor’s privilege to revise the article and, if he is really dissatisfied, to re-write it.

But the leader writer who feels that he is frozen out when the big moment comes, after he has been writing on a subject week after week, will soon become disheartened and will not give his best. On national newspaper the leader writer may not contribute more than two or three articles a week, but he has plenty to occupy his time if he is to keep abreast of life in that part of the world with which he is dealing.

The more newspapers and official reports he studies the more valuable he becomes to his Editor. On some of the newspapers there are leader writers who seem to be able to torn their hands to almost any subject in any part of the world.

This may be caused by the economic state of the paper, but obviously such an article cannot carry the same weight and authority as the article written by a man who has devoted all his spare time to the subjects which come under his microscope.

Writing of the ‘light leader’:

It is another important item of a newspaper. Many newspapers now include an article of this kind as a relief from the serious and some editors of noted newspapers have achieved a world-wide reputation. But it is not every editor who can create humorous comments, innocuous and interesting.

In this field, there are more misses than hits. Obviously, no one writer could easily maintainn a daily supply of light article or column. One of the best writers of light leaders of the present generation once expressed the view that the essential requisite of a light leader writer is a neat literary beginning and a witty closing sentence which produces a smile on the readers’ face and which makes him regret that the light leader was not long enough.