From Separation to Collaboration

Abstract

The separation of editorial and business departments has long been regarded as central to the identity and integrity of journalism in the United States. Financial challenges confronting news organizations are seeing a gradual relaxation of this separation, though tensions remain. This study examines the perspectives of those involved in creating, developing, and executing specific editorial–business collaborative initiatives intended to enhance the financial standing of their respective news organizations. Drawing on organizational theory, it uses qualitative interviews with individuals at editorial and business departments of various news organizations to ascertain the scope and nature of these initiatives and the factors that participants attribute to their success. It identifies a range of different initiatives, finds that such initiatives have organization-wide effects, and categorizes factors affecting the success of collaborative initiatives into individual, organizational, and institutional levels.

KEYWORDS:

• cross-functional teams
• economics of news
• editorial–business collaboration
• ethics
• organizational culture

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank the editor and anonymous reviewers. They would also like to thank Professors Randy Smith, Amy McCombs, and Antonie Stam for their advice and support. Finally, they thank the journalists interviewed for overcoming any reluctance to participate.