Your Executive Editor

Open question to the board. What in the hell does your Exec. Editor do? I had one idea for what the EE did before I started at my current shop, and now it's completely different. That's all I'll say, for now. Anyway, what's the EE do on a daily basis?

 

sip coffee, shuffle paper, play grab-ass wit his secretary...

 

Don't have one at my current stop. Too small.

The last paper I worked at had one. His job was to be disliked by the newsroom because he had a business degree. It was also his job to buy himself the nicest office equipment, like LCD monitors, laptops, fat leather chair, etc. It was also his job to lay workers off in large numbers.

 

Got no complaints. He stays holed up in his office for 8 hours, rejects all the sports complaint calls out to half-court, and generally leaves us the hell alone.

 

Oh, but the stories I could tell.

 

My former exec ed's favorite hobby was boning the interns.

 

An ME who cowers in his office? Say it isn't so!

 

I've been in three places that had "editors" ... and when the editors left and new ones came in, the replacements were suddenly "executive editors."

In every case, the "executive editor" was fatter.

Maybe that has something to do with it.

I think the way the breakdown works in a classical newsroom is that the editor is in charge of all content, news and opinon, and is often the publisher of the newspaper. The executive editor is the newsroom department head, and the managing editor is his No. 2, responsible for day to day content.

Then again, the one paper that I worked at that had that breakdown also had a sports editor and an executive sports editor, and the executive sports editor was the boss. So what the heck do I know?

Then there's the Albany Times Union, which puts executive in front of most newsroom titles.

 

In the three daily shops where I have worked since 1998, this describes the situation accurately. To borrow from the military point of view, I would say the EE should be concentrating on strategy (here is what we need to accomplish), while the ME focuses on tactics (here is how we are going to do it).

 

I used to work for managing editors and they were all nice people to work for.
As for executive editors, I've noticed an increase in ego with the title.
Like they know everything and you dare never point out when they are wrong or you will regret it for the rest of your puny little life.

 

Nothing

 

my exec editor is a very nice guy, and i like him a lot.

that said, he don't do shit.

go to him with a great idea, and he'll thank you profusely, tell you that's a great idea and we're gonna go after that, then shake your hand on the way out.

and then it don't get done.

i keep trying, but i know it won't get done. that's the sad part. he's just giving me lip service untill he can get me out the door.

i had a great editor once. twice, actually. they would take great ideas and run with them. it was great to be a part of that.

no more, though. these people now are just looking to make budget, and then hire and fire, play games with the staff. i wonder what these geniuses talk about when they get together. exec editors like that mean nothing to those of us on the desk, yet they keep asking us to try harder.

right, boss..............no way...............