The role of the editor has changed over the years. As smaller,
ideologically motivated publications have been replaced
by glossier, larger magazines and newspapers with greater
commercial appeal, the functions of an editor within a publication
have altered.
Sometimes, his or her task
has been to ensure that policies dictated by increasingly
powerful owners, running publications mainly as a business
are followed. At the same time, ensuring the commercial
interests of a newspaper are protected has also become
a priority, even if any strict adherence to political
belief has to be put aside to achieve this.
But matters of politics and
expediency aside, editors continue at many publications
to play a crucial role in determining the basic content
of the editions they bring out, sorting out day-to-day administrative
issues concerning the staff working under them, keeping
checks on quality and generally playing the role of pivot
between the various departments and personnel engaged in
the task of ensuring the magazine or newspaper arrives in
the market or on the news-stands as per its schedule.
Indeed, at least within
the larger publications, with falling standards of language
and professionalism, the responsibilities of editor appear
in some cases to have expanded. Many today incorporate
a part of the tasks traditionally assigned to news editors
or chief reporters, while also taking on increased number
of administrative functions. With most publications run
essentially as businesses, or as means to wield influence
in the corridors of power, the role of determining the
policy of a newspaper or setting its ideological tone,
has however slipped largely away from editors. This has
instead landed in the usually larger, plusher offices
occupied by owners, and in times of declining ideological
commitments, the 'line' taken by a newspaper may be vague,
or cater to specific needs arising at specific times.
To a huge extent, the precise
role played by an editor is a matter of personal style
and preference. The flexibility of the office permits
the 'hands-on' enthusiast to personally proof-read each
article and each news brief, while the more laid-back
editor may be happier entertaining regular strings of
visitors or reading the vast heaps of publications that
land at many larger offices, while allowing his staff
to carry out much of the routine work.
Even as the office has
evolved over the years, what has not changed perhaps is
the pressures editors face. The direction from which these
come has however altered. Commercial demands, advertising
and other issues linked to the overwhelming priority within
many publications to earn money have become increasingly
dominant over the last decade, and this trend seems to
be growing still stronger.
What is perhaps rarely
discussed today, amid all the talk about restrictions
on free expression and threats to media liberties, is
the fact that the most acute curbs come due to pressures
exerted by advertisers and corporate advertising clients,
rather than from any office within government. Whereas
articles on corruption within the establishment or editorials
on judicial malpractices appear every now and then, even
a single report on say, a specific consumer corporate
concern, be it manufacturing soft drinks, or sports shoes
or baby milk powder, can create an uproar large enough
to cause heads to roll.
This, to a very considerable
extent, determines the boundaries for what an editor cannot
carry in his or her publication. After all, upsetting
big business means that money coming a publications way
from advertising, or special supplements or promotions
falls under threat -- and almost no newspaper or magazine
is willing to accept such a risk to revenue.
Indeed, the power of the
advertiser, and the hefty bank cheques large companies
can dole out, has become clearer than ever before in the
last year or so. Even highly respected publications have,
in a violation of traditional practice, had advertisements
occupy entire back pages or permitted the smiling faces
of women bearing packages of tea or some other product
to dominate front pages, while items about bombs in the
Middle East or sectarian massacres within the country
try somewhat apologetically to find space for themselves
amidst the bright displays on the same page. The advertisers,
it then seems, reign supreme in today's world of publications,
with few editors and even fewer owners willing to stand
in the way of their demands.
Aside from such commercial
issues, pressures from government sources, from the Press
Relations Officers (PROs) attached to Governors and Chief
Ministers and even individual ministers or public sector
bodies including utility companies to place photographs
or news items remain consistent. Other, self-styled publicity
seekers in business or politics or even sports, appear
to have reached the conclusion that a photograph placed
in a newspaper can alone make or break their career. And,
perhaps the fact that most often, PROs wish photographs
to be placed rather than write-ups, indicates that they
too have only limited faith in what those they are seeking
to promote have to say.
Pressures imposed by deadlines,
the need to have material for publication at the press
on time, to persuade contributors to submit their articles
on a schedule that can permit this to happen and to juggle
limited prime space available to meet the pleas and demands
of sometimes egoistic staff writers or reporters add to
the list of tasks editors routinely take on. As levels
of ethics and professional competence, perhaps in all
professions, have declined, along with standards of education,
the task of the editor and his or her work description
has become possibly more convoluted. But essentially,
the role remains that of a pivot, even if the precise
nature of a publication, the role assumed by its owners
and the structures that exist within it determine the
details of day to day work for the typical editor.
