DEPARTMENTS IN A MEDIA ORGANISATION

DEPARTMENTS IN A MEDIA ORGANIZATION
 

Departments in a media organization are based on specialization; where different job descriptions are placed together or set apart depending on the specific target. It is also determined by the job description; withthose that are related being placed underone department e.g.Editor and a writer
Departments vary from one organization to another depending on variables such as the type of structure and the size and success of the organization.

DEPARTMENTS IN NEWSPAPER ORGANIZATION

In a typical newspaper organization the following departments are found:
1. The Editorial Department

The editorial department is the heart of a newspaper organization since collection, selection, processing and packaging of news items takes place here. The management team found here include: Editor-in-Chief, Managing/ executive Editor, Chief sub-Editor, Sub editor, news editor and chief reporter.
The editorial department is usually divided into two: the news and the editorial department. The news
departments being headed by a managing/ editor while the editorial side having the Editor-in-Chief as their overall supervisor. In some organizations however the Editor-in-Chief might be in charge of the entire editorial department and is more superior to the Managing editor. In other organizations the opposite is true.
2. The Advertising Department
This department is all about sales and marketingas well aschecking for readershipandviewership numbers. An advertising department is primarily responsible for revenue generation. This it achieves through canvassing of adverts to be aired or place in the organization’s newspaper and selling of the advertising space to interested parties. In some organizations especially for the print industries this department is sometime further divided into sections such as: thecirculation, the marketing/research and the advertising section. This means that apart from dealing with sourcing of adverts, market and readership/ viewership survey is done in this department. It also deals with delivery of the final product to the target audience through various mediums such as: delivering the publication through own or third-party carriers, mailing through post office, selling on newsstands, use of vendors, and use of radio, Television and the internet.
Employees found in this department are majorly sales people and they include but not limited to: an AdvertisingAccountexecutives (Heads the department) andare overallin chargeof regular canvassingofadverts, sales manager,and Advertisement clerks (record keeping),Director Program Marketing & Advertising etc.

3. Printing/ ProductionDepartment

This department is responsible for packaging of news items as well as the adverts or classifieds. Here employees are responsible for designing and making of newspaper pages as well as printing the final product.
4. Administration Department

Also referred to as the maintenance department in some newspaper organizations, this department ensures proper functioning of the organization. It ensures all other departments are working together to meet the overall organizational goals and objectives. Examples of personnel found in this department include: Chief Executive
Officer (C.E.O) and Chief Operating Officer (C.O.O) or the president of an organization.
5. Business and Finance Department

This department deals with the organization’s funding. Funding is important if any media organization is to achieve its organizational goals and objectives. Purchasing of equipment or hiring of new personnel requires adequate finances.
Personnel found in this department include:
• Internal auditors (review interim results and financial statements)
• Accounts clerk

Some of the activities undertaken in this department include:
1. Managing salaries
2. Record keeping of all sale and purchases made.
3. Raising finances through various was such as seeking corporate loans or seeking funding from well-wishers.
4. Preparing financial statements and reviewing interim results to determine loss or profit.


5. Equipment and Personnel Department
This department is in charge of hiring new employees, promoting hard working employees, firing and carrying out disciplinary action against non-performing or indiscipline staff.It’s also referred to as the human resource department in some organizations. The human resource manager who is in charge of this departmentalso determinesthe number of employees required in the organization. Training programs are held by the HRD to improve the employee’s skills, as well as to motivate them. There are three main types of training:
Induction training-new employees are shown how the organization runs and the structures in place.
On-the-job training-employees participate in capacity building through various ways such as holding workshops where they get trained by experts on newer or better ways of performing their roles
Off-the-job training-here an employee gets support from the organization to continue with their education e.g. pursuing a master’s degree program or a PHD in their field.

MANAGEMENT TEAM FOUND IN BOTH PRINT AND ELECTRONIC MEDIA HOUSE
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

He/she is a publication's editorial leader, having final responsibility for all operations and policies.They may heads all the departments of the organization in some organizations and are held accountable for delegating tasks to staff members and managing them.The editor-in-chief is directly responsible for the management and publication of the organizations materials such asbooks, newspapers, magazines etc. Some publications have no overallEditor-in-chief.
Duties and responsibilities of the editor

1. They represent the editorial team in important and controversial matters.

2. Managethe editorial team since they have the most experience. However,they do little writing and mayfrom time to time contribute to an editorial pieces or editing content.
3. Ensuring the final draft is complete and there are no omissions or any form of plagiarism. The editor-in-chief ultimately decides whether a submitted manuscript will be published after seeking input from review-ers selected on a basis of relevant expertise.
4. They are responsible for motivating and developing the editorial team. They may also help settle disputes and problems.
5. They also handlereader complaints and takeresponsibility for issues after publication
6. Attends all and Chairs the Editorial Board meetings and ensures that meetings are productive, run smoothly and end on time, with all business completed.
7. Sees that all stories for their media company are assigned and deadlines areestablished.
8. Enforces¬ deadlines on news stories submission and production
9. Responsible for design and layout of the front page and news sections in print edition

10. In consultation with the adviser and/or lab-teachingassistant, he/she organizes production of the newspa-per, including copyediting, computer inputting and formatting, and pagination, proofreading and prepress. Plans and directs weekly Editorial Board meetings throughout the semester.
MANAGING EDITOR/EXECUTIVE EDITOR
This is one of the top editorial positions, ranked at the same level as the Editor-in-Chief position. In some organizations, they are at the same rank. In others, they are lower or highlyranked. In most media organizations however, an Executive editor and/ Managing editor manage staff, is in charge of liaison, determine coverage and set and enforce policies.
Duties and responsibilities

1.Manages Staff
-The managing editor directly oversees all other editors, acting as a supervisor, mentor,and guide.
-A managing editor works closelywith all the editors and other top newsroom employees.
-He/She promotes and hires new editors and terminates those who fail to meet expectations. At smaller companies, the managing editor may hire and fire all editorial employees, including reporters andphotographers.
-The managing editor also makes daily decisions that affect the entire editorial department. Such decisions include adjusting deadlines under special circumstances, including during elections, and deciding whether to run controversial content, such as images of dead bodies at a crash scene.
2. Sets and Enforces Policies

-The managing editor sets and enforces policies and procedures used by the publication’s editors, reporters, -He/She sets times for editorial meetings, deadlines for sending newspapercopy to the pressroom for printing and decides which pages will include color.
-The managing editor also helps in enforcing policies established by the publisher and editor in chief. Such policies may include when to publish names with stories. For example, many newspapers do not publish the names of sex crime victims and some do not publish the names of youth charged with various crimes.
-In special circumstances, the managing editor also makes the decision to stray from the normal policy.
3.Determines Coverage

-The managing editor assigns stories to news departments or directly to reporters.
-They also approve or reject pitched news and feature stories.
-The managing editor also plays an advisory role in deciding how stories are reported. He may recommend orrequire that a particular story appear on the first page above the fold, and he may recommend that a story be held for a different day.
-The managing editor also plays a key role in establishing and overseeing compliance with style standards. This includes making certain that all editors and reporters use the correct fonts and in-house punctuation, spelling and grammar guidelines.
4.Liaison

The managing editor serves as the primary liaison between the editorial staff and the publisher and editor in chief. At smaller companies, the managing editor may communicate directly with the publisher on a frequent basis. At larger companies, the managing editor may communicate regularly with the editor in chief but rarely with the publisher. The publisher and editor in chief may pass information to the managing editor for delivery to the editorial staff.
This may include a simple message of a job well done but also could include written correspondence warning of possible job cuts or awards won by the publication and its employees. The managing editor also may communicate with the advertising department especially when the department wants to publish a special section and needs the editorial department's assistance in providing copy.
CHIEF SUB-EDITOR

The Chief Sub-Editor found in a print media industry. A Chief Sub-editor heads all the sections of an editorial department e.g. foreign desk, regional desk, city desk, business desk etc. (These respective sectionstake careof their respective pages located in a newspaper).His/her role in the editorial production of a newspaper is influenced by a number of factors such as how much news is collected for the day, space available for news after slotting in adverts, volume of information available at a point of time, how close it is to the deadline etc.
Duties and responsibilities
1. She/he selects news items (selection)
2. Decides on their importance (prioritizing)
3. Edits orgets them edited (processing)
4. Decides on how the page should look (designing)
5. Supervise the making of pages.
6. They also decide on the placement of news items on the page (packaging).
7. A Chief Sub-editor also assigns and allocates works to various subeditors working under him and also coordinates and supervises their work.
NEWS EDITOR

He/she is one of the most important persons in the editorial team. Any slip on his part can land the newspaper into trouble. Hence good newspapers have highly experienced and intelligent news editors. To a national newspaper, an active, intelligent and enterprising news editor is the vital spark thatenergizes its news coverage and outlook. An intelligent news editor has to make a judicious follow-up of a seemingly promising paragraph or sometimes even make further enquiry before finalizing the story and give it the perfect shape he wantsit to take.
Duties and responsibilities
1. He/she is in charge of planningfor a daily newspaper. E.g. deciding which story item is to be covered.
2. They are responsible for final scrutiny of important news stories submitted by different correspondents and feature writers. The stories have to bechecked for accuracy of thefiguresand factsand wheneverindoubttheyconfirm the authenticity of the source.
3. Theyoversees the smooth functioningof a newspaper office by keeping a careful eye on the routine side of news collection as well as onthe news desk which calls for more imaginative emulation.

4. They are also responsiblefor a steady and continuous inflow of up-to-the-minute news into newspaper office. An ideal news editor manages to get all the obvious stories into his paper with a good proportion of them as exclusives.
5. The news editors arealso responsible for selecting stories thathave real news value and which may be deemed important by reader. Selection is throughdiscretion, discrimination and use of imagination.
CHIEF REPORTER

He/she may be foundin both print and electronic media houses. His or her immediate supervisor is a news editor.They perform a supervisory role in that they foresee the work that reporters have to perform as will be mentioned.
Duties and responsibilities
Their key duties include:
1. Attend weekly desk meetings and staff meetings to keep abreast of company policies and requirements.
2. Monitor daily events locally, nationally and internationally and assist others to gather information or footage of current events.
3. They also supervise reporters andstaff photographers/ photojournalistsfor all reports on events.
REPORTER
Reporters usual assist the chief reporter perform their functions.They can be found in both print and electronic media houses.
Duties and responsibilities
1. They assist the chief reporters to perform the following functions:
2. Coordinate with news editor and fellow reporters to develop story ideas for report writing.
3. Collaborate with news editor to improve story presentation.
4. Prepare reports to keep the public informed about daily happenings.
5. Analyzeand collect information through various modes such as personal interviews and -news briefings to prepare news reports.
6. Maintain relations with all news sources on daily basis to develop story ideas and compile appro-priate reports.
7. Analyze and ensure accurate and crisp news reporting to avoid ambiguity and redundancy.
8. Work in assigned beat areas once every week to gather all local news.
9. Coordinate with graphics department to obtain visual elements for each story with appropriate pho-tos or graphics.
10. Administer all news writing to meet deadlines.
11.
Perform research so as to maintain knowledge on latest events for news coverage
SUB-EDITOR

A Sub-Editor is a presenter of news and reports. More often than not, a sub-editor has to deal with the reports
of different reporters.In such cases, he has to get the main points from all the reports and then present them in a logical and interesting narrative. All these things haveto be done in time in order to reach the press before it is too late. Sub-editors often specialize in a particular field, such as foreign news, sports, films, commerce, etc.Sub-editors are mostly found in the print media industry.
Duties and responsibilities
1. Checking over stories (copy) for spelling, grammatical or factual errors
2. Rewriting and shortening stories (copy)as necessary tosuit the newspaper’s house-style, la

style, language lev-el and to keep within the word count.
3. Check stories for accuracy,and if they adhere to the various media laws such as copyright law
4. He/she identifies important points from the large information given tothem by the news reporters and condenses them, giving a shape in a logical and interesting way.
5. The Sub-Editor also decides on the best headlines.
6. Helpwith the design and layout of the pages and by adding last minute news stories.
7. Cropping (trimming) pictures and writing captions for them
8. Compiling tables of information, such as sports or election results
ASSOCIATE EDITORS

They editorial personnel charged with directing thepreparation of a section of a newspaper. They are also referred to assignment editors in some mediaorganizations.They are found in both print and electronic media houses.
Duties and responsibilities
1. They issue reporters with story assignments.
2. Supervise reporters work to ensure the length of news is appropriate and that they have maintained the beat system i.e.reporters have covered news stories in different fields or topics such as health, politics, business, education, environment, entertainment, science and technology.

PRODUCERS
They are found in electronic media companies. The producers are in charge of the entire production process in an electronic media house. This production process includesPre-production, Production and Post-production of programmes. They are in constant communication with members of the news department such as reporters and anchors before and even during the airing of programmes.
Duties and responsibilities
They initiate, coordinate, supervise, and controlmatters such as:
1. Raisingfunding
2. Hiring key personnel
3. Contracting and arranging for distributors
4. Determining which programmes are aired, how they are aired and at what time they will be aired.

MANAGING DIRECTOR
The director is responsible for overseeing the creative aspects of production. They are found in electronic media organizations.
Duties and responsibilities
1. Controlling the content and flow of the programmes

Directing the performances of reporters, anchorsor presenters
3. Selecting the locations in which a programme will be shot(during in house production)
4. Managing technical details such as the positioning of cameras, the use of lighting, and the timing of programmes or when commercials are slotted in.

MEDIA PROGRAMMING STRATEGIES IN KENYA
1. Counter-Programming

This involves targeting of a different audience segment from that of the competitors.
This strategy is used by weak competitors especially the small media houses in order to get viewership.
For instance, during the airing of soap operas a station may decide to air a football match or news bulletin in order to capture a different audience from its rival.
2. Ham mocking

This is the placing of a new or less popular programme between two programmes that are already well established or which are popular. This is done so as to entice viewers to watch the new or less popular program as they wait for the next programme.
E.g. a station may decide to place a new programme just after the 9 p.m. news bulletin letin and just before the late night movie.
3. Blunting

Here a TV station decides to air a programme containing similar media content as the rival station and is usually aired around the same period of time as well.
An example is that of NTV, Citizen TV and KTN deciding to air soap operas at 6 p.m.
4. Lead in

This is a strategy that is used capture audience at the beginning of prime time. The best or most popular programmes are placed first at the start of prime time with the hope that viewers will remain glued to the station for other programmes.
5. Stunting

This is deviation from the regular scheduling of programmes with the aim of getting the competitors off guard. A TV station may decide to start certain programmes earlier than the rival stations with the aim of getting advantage in terms of being the first to air.
E.g. K24 and KTN start their news bulletin earlier by several minutes before the normal starting timeletin and just before the late night movie.
3. Blunting

Here a TV station decides to air a programme containing similar media content as the rival station and is usually aired around the same period of time as well.
An example is that of NTV, Citizen TV and KTN deciding to air soap operas at 6 p.m.
4. Lead in

This is a strategy that is used capture audience at the beginning of prime time. The best or most popular programmes are placed first at the start of prime time with the hope that viewers will remain glued to the station for other programmes.
5. Stunting

This is deviation from the regular scheduling of programmes with the aim of getting the competitors off guard. A TV station may decide to start certain programmes earlier than the rival stations with the aim of getting advantage in terms of being the first to air.
E.g. K24 and KTN start their news bulletin earlier by several minutes before the normal starting timeletin and just before the late night movie.
3. Blunting

Here a TV station decides to air a programme containing similar media content as the rival station and is usually aired around the same period of time as well.
An example is that of NTV, Citizen TV and KTN deciding to air soap operas at 6 p.m.
4. Lead in

This is a strategy that is used capture audience at the beginning of prime time. The best or most popular programmes are placed first at the start of prime time with the hope that viewers will remain glued to the station for other programmes.
5. Stunting

This is deviation from the regular scheduling of programmes with the aim of getting the competitors off guard. A TV station may decide to start certain programmes earlier than the rival stations with the aim of getting advantage in terms of being the first to air.
1. E.g. K24 and KTN start their news bulletin earlier by several minutes before the normal starting time
MEDIA ADVERTISING AND MARKETING
2. The circulation department is responsible for encouraging people to start or keep reading the publication.
3. Since people are constantly moving out of the area or canceling subscriptions for other reasons, the circulation
4. department is always working to bring innew people through telemarketing, direct mail, and advertising campaigns.
5. You may see them at major community event, promoting your newspaper and often sponsoring the event itself. Although typically advertising sales brings in about 75% of all newspaper revenue and circulation brings in the other 25%, without the circulation department, nobody would be reading the paper and therefore no ads could be sold.
6. Advertising and media in Kenya
7. The advertising market is large enough to sustain media diversity in Kenya. Advertising revenue has grown steadily since 2003 to stand at Sh17 billion in 2008. Advertisers are resilient and tend to place new advertisements even during economic recession60. Traditionally, the advertising to editorial content ratio is 3:2 in media, with break-even point set at 38 per cent for advertisements (60 per cent adverts and 40 per cent editorial content)61. The trend in Kenya is that advertisements take more than 60 per cent of media space and airtime.
8. Advertisers have immense influenceon media because advertising is the backbone of the media business. The commercial media cannot survive without advertising. The media are often careful not to annoy advertisers. Correspondingly, media houses rarely publish offending stories about advertisers.

DISTRIBUTION AND CIRCULATION

The circulation department is responsible for encouraging people to start or keep reading the publication. Since people are constantly moving out of the area or canceling subscriptions for other reasons, the circulation department is always working to bring in new people through telemarketing, direct mail, and advertising campaigns. You may see them at major community event, promoting your newspaper and often sponsoring the event itself. Although typically advertising sales brings in about 75% of all newspaper revenue and circulation brings in the other 25%, without the circulation department, nobody would be reading the paper and therefore no ads could be sold.
Daily Nation Newspaper Kenya is not only the East Africa’slargest newspaper but has a daily circulation and readership of more than 205,000 copies. The newspaper has print in addition to electronic platform where news and current events in Kenya are aggregated and published over the internet further increasing the total number of readers by a significant figure. Newspaper as well as radio and TV are now distributed electronically and the internet aids in its circulation. The most common distribution and circulation strategies include:
1. Subscription-this is the payment of monthly, quarterly or even annually fee in order to use or get media content. Failure to paymayresultin withdrawal of rights to content. Subscription is used for online publications and webcasts such as will the case on the Dailynation or The Daily post, citizen TV, Nation TV etc.
2. Individual sales-this can be through newspaper vendors. Also one may opt to receive the newspapers via post office or through email.
3. Free copies-it is the issuance of publications without havingto part with a fee. A good example is of The People Daily newspaper which decided not charge anything for its publication.
PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF MEDIA HOUSES IN KENYA
Problems faced by the media industry
Challenges faced by Kenyan media include:
1. Media ownership
Lack of transparencyin licensing and allocation of frequencies hinder ownership in the sector.
Inadequate frequencies limit investment in TV sector.
Government hostility towards some media owners a disincentive to investors and confusing to owners.
Media owners with strong political affiliations tend to be politically co-opted and influence editori-al policy.
Stiff business competition creates disharmony among media owners.
Media owners have undue influence over MCK through representation and financial clout.
Small media investors represented by AMNET are not well integrated in MOA.

Media owners guided by profit motive and ignore social responsibility roles.
Community ownership of media threatened by financial sustainability challenges.The umbrella body for community media (KCOMNET) is also facing funding challenges that has reduced pro-gram activities.
2. Government and other outside interference or alien polices and frameworks
a. The government has a tendency to punish independent and critical media through denial of advertising
b. Private advertisers use their financial muscle to have their way with the media on sensitive matters that touch on them.
c. Armed security agents raided The Standard and KTN in March 20067 because they had done a story touching on the first family in a negative way. The then First Lady Lucy Kibaki stormed the NMG’s newsroom, harassed journalists and slapped TV cameraman Derrick Otieno in May 2005. The most glaring government interference with media took place on December 30, 2007 when live broadcasts were banned after the elections.

d. Small media investors represented by the Alternative Media Network (AMNET) are not well integrated into the Media Owners Association (MOA).


e. Community media faces interference from political representatives in the constituencies where the community media outlets are sited.
3. Finance

a. Community media faces an uncertain future due to financial sustainability challenges
b. Purchase of equipment e.g. set top boxes is an expense that not every citizen can cater for hence some stop viewership.
c. Cost of production (Input vs Output) -The cost of doing business in the media sector is prohib-itive. The high cost of newsprint reduced profitability in the print media, forcing newspapers and magazines to raise prices. The average Kenyan living below the poverty line cannot afford a newspaper.
d. Expense of digital migration-pay TV may not be affordable for most people hence some might be locked out of access to information i.e. will lock out anyone who has not upgraded from an-alogue systems from accessingthe television broadcasts.Digital migration is overly expensive for the TV sector. Government has given over Sh100 million to KBC to pilot digital TV by 2009.
e. The internet is taking a large chunk of classified adverts from the traditional mass media forms leading to reduction in revenue generation for the latter.

4. Viewership
a. Repetition of programmes-it creates boredom among viewers hence they may opt not to stay tuned in.
b. Most content can be found online and viewers especially the younger ones may insteadseek content in the web instead of watching television.
5. Digitalization
a. Signal strength-Is affected by the weather hence heavy cloud cover leads to loss of signal. In-sufficient broadband frequencies, limited investment in the television sector
b. Internet connectivity-Internet is becoming a substitute source of news and information espe-cially for the young generation. need for reliable Internet connectivity. Kenya has been relying on very small aperture technology to boost the speed of its Internet connectivity. However, the construction of an undersea fibre-optic cable has increased access to broadband in Kenya. This will bring phenomenal growth in the media sector. Already, Wananchi Group, one of Kenya’s pioneer Internet service providers, has established aconvergence platform that offers TV on cable, Internet and mobile platforms. MultiChoice, a satellite TV provider, and Safaricom, a mobile service provider, have combined forces to offer Kenya’s first TV on mobile platform.

c. Reduction in revenue generation-the digital platform allows for growth of the media industry hence more media organizations coming up. Presence of many competitors has led to decline in revenue collection especially from adverts by the already existing media houses.
d. Loss of employment

Loss of employment-or the employees not conversant with modern technology


e. Opaque licensing and allocation of frequencies undermine diversity in the ownership of broad-cast media outlets
6. Readership
a. Illiteracy
b. Poor reading culture
c. Accessibility
d. Cost of purchasing the publication

PROSPECTS OF THE MEDIA INDUSTRY

1. Technological convergence has provided multiple information platforms that have increased the diver-sity of information sources for audiences.
2. Technological convergence brings efficiency in media operations. Today, reporters working in remote and inaccessible areas can meet deadlines easily if they have Internet or mobile connectivity.
3. Technological convergence encourages citizen journalism.
4. Media houses such as Nation Media Group (NMG) and the royal media services are quickly adapting to new technologies. This new technologies are relatively cheaper as compared to the old medium wave technology that was previously used could costs a media house approximately Sh120 million in monthly bills.
5. These media organizations have integrated their news operations. NMG runs its entire news platforms in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania (radio, TV, newspapers, online and mobile) from its headquarters in Nairobi. It’s also puts in place a content management system called “Core Media66” that allows it to automatically select content from various news platforms and place it on a converged platform.
6. Migration from analog to digital technology brings huge benefits to the sector as it will avail more TV channels to investors.
7. Convergence ofmedia technology has made it possible for stations to break news easily.

8. It has also enhanced interaction between the media stations and the audience.
9. Digital cameras have made the traditional ‘dark room’ obsolete.
10. With modern technology, the reception ofdigital signals is better and the quality of the output, that is, the sound and picture, is of a high standard.