Inside the mind of an Editor

Facilitator- Lynn Najjemba Panos Eastern Africa

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Introduction
What is Editing? Process of collecting, preparing and conveying information in all the different forms, audio, video, written etc

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Qualities of an Editor
Working with and supporting Reporters Knowledge of the Law. Organization Counts. able to handle multiple duties effectively at the same time. Part of the Team. Representative for the editorial department in planning meetings Setting a Trend. Editors must monitor changes in the field and media management..

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Editing contnd
Editorial function Involves correction, verification, condensation, modification of information before its relayed to audiences Media just like other sectors has chain of command Media segmented i.e. politics, business, sports, features are main Others are, crime reporting, court reporting, parliament reporting, environment& science, P society journalism etc

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Role&power of an editor
Oversee and direct work of a News Team Identifying News stories, tips or ideas (unique)
Though not in isolation Discussion with news team A member of news team can front a story idea, then its discussed

commissioning staff for news or information gathering;

They decide what event should be covered? When and who should cover it? Involves assessment of individual reporters interest, skill, ability and expertise Potential information sources for the story

Driving the News Agenda

Evaluating News or decide on content What makes a news story
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Role of Editor Contnd

Overall, News Editors or producers take charge of all news bulletins or news programs Ensure what goes on air conforms to the style, format and target audience of a media house Guide reporters on how to write stories, which voices to include in a story (balancing factor) Checking grammar, punctuations, pronunciations, sound or picture quality (in TV)

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Role of Editor Contnd

Adherence to professional standards
An editor has a duty to ensure that a story; Is not Biased Is factual Well balanced Not slanderous Does not break established laws and policies Does not promote hate speech or any form of discrimination.

Is story or event news worthy

Does it meet the news values; Timeliness, significance, prominence, proximity, unusual or Bizzaire, human interest

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Editors Role Contnd..

An editor decides when a story will be covered or aired. A story should meet at least two or more of the news values for it to be aired A story may be delayed, aired much later in the day or the following day;
If necessary facts are still unavailable or unconfirmed If the balancing factor has not yet been achieved (the other side to the story) If there are competing events e.g. a sudden earth quake, landside, flood, collapsed building, fire outbreak etc
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Editors Role Contnd

Allocation of resources, financial or human
Deciding how many people should cover one story, At times editors go out to cover stories Amount of funds to be injected to get a story

Perform general HR Functions

Identifying skill gaps among the news team Skills development Motivation of news team

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Key considerations when selecting news

The News Values The Facts Time factor The Balancing Factor Relevance to target audience Language Neutrality

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key considerations
Journalism practice requires neutrality Ideally, all stories should be covered without being selective An editor should be armed with all facts of a story before is aired or published In so doing a story may take long to be aired, as editors verify or crosscheck facts

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Key Considerations
The time factor is so paramount for some stories.
Some stories become stale with time that if delayed they will cease to have impact. An editor may decide to air a story with a few facts because the issue is being overtaken by time. Developing stories. An Editor will break the story but keep following up and bring more facts in subsequent bulletin i.e. a mass protest, an evacuation exercise at a collapsed building site. Etc Competition within and among media houses. Especially for breaking stories like a Cabinet Reshuffle.

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Practical Limitations to neutrality

In trying to practice objectivity you cannot avoid accusation of bias, depending on which side someone stands One cant report every story out there There are many other factors that limit neutrality of an editor or media house Some internal or external Bias is not only political Coverage of news is influenced by several other factors
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Internal Limitations
Too many stories out there, one cant cover all Size of news teams and resources
Some media houses are low budget Cant employ or sustain big news teams Have limited financial resources to cover news extensively. So they choose to cover whats within their means e.g. Coverage of Kenyan Elections, the Oil arbitration case in London Competition in the industry has however led others to act unprofessionally e.g. Super FM

Media House style, format

Some radios are purely music stations, so they have less time for news. Others are news talk, have more airtime for hard news and information than music PANOS EASTERN AFRICA Red Pepper and its Tabloid news

Internal Limitations Contnd

Target audience +Preferences
Every media house tends to cut out its own audience They will report on or seek to appease these audiences in their news. E.g Red Pepper news As a result stories that affect a large number of people may not be aired on some media. i.e. Buddo school fire may not find airplay on Sky news or CNN but these may accord prominence to a school shooting in some remote part of America

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Internal Limitations Contnd

Ownership interest (or conflict of interest) & influence
Who owns a media determines; The kind of voices, issues or individuals to access the airwaves e.g. Light House TV would not permit stories about accidents in its news News stories, discussions or debates on homosexuality cannot be accorded space on religious founded media houses. Media houses owned by business gurus may not permit news stories or adverts promoting their business rival The tendency to lock out voices and issues has given rise to special interest media. E.g. women radio, religious groups own radios i.e. Pentecostals, Muslims, Catholics
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External influence
Advertiser Power and Influence
Medias only resource is airtime or space Most radio stations in Uganda and private and commercial To remain afloat media owners have to sell airtime to generate revenue Viability now dependent on number of advertisers they attract and retain Competition for advert revenue is threatening, public interest role of media There is a tendency to push editors to drop stories deemed unfavorable to the advertiser interests. Eg UTL sued by Franchise Dealers, Coca Cola sued over foreign matter in the drink
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External Influence contnd

Political Influence or Interference Some media houses are started to propagate political ideologies Others have fallen victim of political interference and censorship once considered critics

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