SEMESTER I

Course Title: Basics of Print Media

Departments of Newspaper Organization

The job functions of employees in the newspaper organization are divided among them and
combined in logical ways. Employees with related functions usually share a common work area
and constitute a work unit. Departments are therefore constituted. The main departments in a
newspaper organization and their main functions are briefly noted below.

1. Editorial Department

This department is headed by the Editor who is responsible for

- Collection of news.
- Selection of news and features
- Editing of news and features and
- Interpretation of news

The editor of the newspaper alone cannot handle the editing work and is therefore assisted by Chief
correspondent, Resident editors, Managing Editors Dy. Editors, Asst. Editors, News Editor (Night
and day), Sub-Editors and other functionaries like photographers, cartoonists, feature writers and
reviewers. Various types of correspondents are engaged in collection and supply of news to the
newspaper's Editorial department.
The Editorial Department – as the name implies, this department is the one responsible for content
creation in any newspaper establishment. It is headed by the Editor. The main responsibilities of
this department is the gathering of news, selecting of which news and features get to be published
in the paper, editing the news and features that have been selected for publication and then laying
them out for print. Like was said above, the Editor is the head of the Editorial department of a
newspaper and he or she is the one responsible for all the content that appears in a newspaper. The
Editor works in conjunction with Assistant Editors, Sub Editors, Copy tasters, feature writers,
correspondents and so many others to gather news from various sources and bring them to the
doorsteps of readers.

2. Advertising Department : Advertising is the major source of revenue fro a newspaper. As such,
the work of collection and publication of advertisements becomes crucial in a newspaper
organization. The Advertising department looks after this work. There can be several sections in
this department one to look after local advertising, one for classified ads, one for general / national
advertising, one for legal advertising and yet another one for preparing copy and so on. the
advertising department is also another very important department of any newspaper establishment.
Everyone knows how much revenue advertisement brings newspapers. As a matter of fact,
advertisement is said to be the major source of revenue for newspaper establishments. Without
advertisements in a newspaper, the establishment cannot survive. The Advertising department of a
newspaper is in charge of advertisements that are published in the paper.

3. Circulation Department : As circulation is the life blood of a newspaper, this department

assumes great importance. The main responsibilities of the circulation department are

- Selling the newspaper

- Delivering it and
- Collection from subscribers.
This department as the name suggests is in charge of circulating or distributing the newspapers.
They are also a very very crucial department in a newspaper organization. This department is
responsible for selling the newspapers, which is also another major source of revenue for the
organization. The department also sees to it that the newspapers are delivered to the right places.

4. Printing Department : It looks after all the work of printing including installation of
machines,plant layout, composing, processing, loading, scheduling, maintenance of machines etc.
this is another department in a newspaper establishment whose name simply tells people the job
that they perform. This department is responsible for the printing of the newspapers. The
department is in charge of everything that has to do with the production and printing of the papers,
which includes, transforming journalists’ stories into type and maintaining the printing machines.

5. Administrative Department : This department looks after the general administrative work
pertaining to personnel their selection, training, promotion, allotment of work, maintaining leave
record, liaison with government departments, general facilities and all such work that facilitates
working of other departments. In the absence of a separate legal department the administrative
department also handles the work pertaining to legal matters. this department is responsible for the
general administration of the entire establishment. The department is in charge of certain very
important duties such as planning, organizing and staffing.

6. Accounting Department : Quite evidently, this department looks after all the accounting work
like maintaining books of accounts, preparing balance sheet and other financial statements,
payment, receipt, preparation of budget, financial planning, cost control etc. this is where figures
are worked on. Every business needs accounting in order to survive and move forward. The
accounting department is responsible for all the accounting work in the establishment. Some of
these accounting works include the preparation of books of accounts, preparation of the budget,
making financial plans, preparing the balance sheet, and what have you.

7. Stores Department : It is charged with the responsibility of proper storage of raw material
(newsprint) and other materials used in the newspaper office. this is a department that has one sole
responsibility which is to properly store newsprint and all the raw materials used for printing. They
also store all other materials that are used in the establishment.

Big newspaper establishments also maintain separate departments for personnel, legal and public
relation matters. The personnel department looks after the work of manpower planning and all
personnel functions from hiring to firing (selection, training, placements, promotion, compensation,
employee welfare, performance appraisal, personnel research, retirement, personnel policy
formulations etc). in many cases, these functions are carried out by the administrative department.
The legal issues are handled by the law department. The work of maintaining public relations is of
the public relations department. On account of intense competition, promotion of mews paper has
become significant. Truly, newspapers urge others to advertise but seldom make use of advertising
and other promotional methods for themselves. In the recent past, however, newspapers have
realized the usefulness of a promotion department to look after this work. Big dailies also have a
data processing department to carry out data processing functions. Such a department is manned by
a data processing manager, computer supervisors, computer operator, key punch supervisor,
programmer, systems analysts and control clerk.