Should Newspaper Editors Answer To Sales Directors?

In a memo dated Wednesday, December 2nd, The Dallas Morning News informed company employees that section editors will now report to sales managers. This is a radical departure from the separation of news employees and sales management that has existed forever in the news industry. The Dallas Observer reported the news and printed a copy of the memo.

I have experience working in the sales department of the Dallas Morning News (one of the largest newspapers in the country) and I have worked as a reporter for a small city newspaper, so I have a unique perspective that many don't have. The bottom line for me is that this is troublesome for the future of news.

I understand that smaller newspapers may not have the luxury of separating sales and news. Often, the publisher himself fills both roles. But the Dallas Morning News is not a small newspaper. The reason they stated in the memo of realigning editors under sales directors is "To better align with our clients' needs..."

The separation of news and sales has long been the recipe to allow editors to report the news with no fear of reprisal or censorship from the sales department who may fear that bad press or investigative reporting would damage revenue from advertisers. While the sales department has always been concerned with meeting the needs of "clients", editors have always been concerned with meeting the needs of "readers."

It is my belief that this radical departure from the way newspapers are organized will do more harm than good. Dallas Morning News management contends that they are aware of the issues that people may have with this arrangement, but they are committed to making sure that news is not compromised. That sounds noble now, but with the economy the way that it is, advertisers now have a huge sword to hold over the necks of the sales directors. They can demand that the paper withhold a newsworthy story about their company or threaten to move millions of dollars of revenue elsewhere. Now that the same person is in charge of sales and news, the decision to allow news to go to the public may not be as easy as it currently seems.

Right now, the debate is in all purposes an academic one. But the time is coming when principles will be put to the test and shareholders will elevated above clients and readers. It has to happen. It's common sense that this will be a nasty issue at some point. When that happens, The Dallas Morning News will sacrifice their reputation perhaps beyond repair. This, in my opinion, is one of the most short-sighted decisions that a company could make. It's still hard for me to believe that they actually did it.

Where I stand on this should be evident. I would appreciate hearing the other side.

Tony Eldridge