Departments in Newspaper organization:

The main departments in a newspaper organization and their main functions are briefly noted
below.

1. Editorial Department

This department is headed by the Editor who is responsible for

- Collection of news.
- Selection of news and features
- Editing of news and features and
- Interpretation of news

The editor of the newspaper alone cannot handle the editing work and is therefore assisted by
Chief correspondent, Resident editors, Managing Editors Dy. Editors, Asst. Editors, News Editor
(Night and day), Sub-Editors and other functionaries like photographers, cartoonists, feature
writers and reviewers. Various types of correspondents are engaged in collection and supply of
news to the newspaper's Editorial department.

2. Advertising Department : Advertising is the major source of revenue fro a newspaper. As
such, the work of collection and publication of advertisements becomes crucial in a newspaper
organization. The Advertising department looks after this work. There can be several sections in
this department one to look after local advertising, one for classified ads, one for general /
national advertising, one for legal advertising and yet another one for preparing copy and so on.

3. Circulation Department : As circulation is the life blood of a newspaper, this department
assumes great importance. The main responsibilities of the circulation department are

- Selling the newspaper
- Delivering it and
- Collection from subscribers.

4. Printing Department : It looks after all the work of printing including installation of machines,
plant layout, composing, processing, loading, scheduling, maintenance of machines etc.

5. Administrative Department : This department looks after the general administrative work
pertaining to personnel their selection, training, promotion, allotment of work, maintaining leave
record, liaison with government departments, general facilities and all such work that facilitates
working of other departments. In the absence of a separate legal department the administrative
department also handles the work pertaining to legal matters.

6. Accounting Department : Quite evidently, this department looks after all the accounting work
like maintaining books of accounts, preparing balance sheet and other financial statements,
payment, receipt, preparation of budget, financial planning, cost control etc.

7. Stores Department : It is charged with the responsibility of proper storage of raw material
(newsprint) and other materials used in the newspaper office.

Big newspaper establishments also maintain separate departments fro personnel, legal and public
relation matters. The personnel department looks after the work of manpower planning and all
personnel functions from hiring to firing (selection, training, placements, promotion,
compensation, employee welfare, performance appraisal, personnel research, retirement,
personnel policy formulations etc). in many cases, these functions are carried out by the
administrative department. The legal issues are handled by the law department. The work of
maintaining public relations I of the public relations department. On account of intense
competition, promotion of mews paper has become significant. Truly, newspapers urge others to
advertise but seldom make use of advertising and other promotional methods for themselves. In
the recent past, however, newspapers have realized the usefulness of a promotion department to
look after this work. Big dailies also have a data processing department to carry out data
processing functions. Such as department is manned by a data processing manager, computer
supervisors, computer operator, key punch supervisor, programmer, systems analysts and control
clerk.











This article is about the various departments in a newspaper organization and the roles that they
each perform. A newspaper organization is made up of various departmentsthat make it possible
for information to be collected, printed and served to the general public. All of the departments
of a newspaper organization are important. A newspaperorganization can barely survive with the
absence of any of the departments.
So what are the roles of the different departments of a newspaper organization? There are four
basic departments in every newspaper organization editorial, production/printing, circulation,
and advertising department. Some big newspaperestablishments might however have
other departments but the average newspaperestablishment will have the above-
mentioned departments.
Below is a list of the basic departments that the average newspaper organization has:
1. The Editorial Department as the name implies, this department is the one
responsible for content creation in any newspaper establishment. It is headed by the
Editor. The main responsibilities of this department is the gathering of news, selecting
of which news and features get to be published in the paper, editing the news and
features that have been selected for publication and then laying them out for print.
Like was said above, the Editor is the head of the Editorial department of
a newspaper and he or she is the one responsible for all the content that appears in
a newspaper. The Editor works in conjunction with Assistant Editors, Sub Editors,
Copy tasters, feature writers, correspondents and so many others to gather news from
various sources and bring them to the doorsteps of readers.
2. Advertising Department the advertising department is also another very
important department of any newspaper establishment. Everyone knows how much
revenue advertisement brings newspapers. As a matter of fact, advertisement is said to
be the major source of revenue for newspaperestablishments. Without advertisements
in a newspaper, the establishment cannot survive. The Advertising department of
a newspaper is in charge of advertisements that are published in the paper.
3. The Circulation Department this department as the name suggests is in charge of
circulating or distributing the newspapers. They are also a very very
crucial department in a newspaper organization. This department is responsible for
selling the newspapers, which is also another major source of revenue for the
organization. The department also sees to it that thenewspapers are delivered to the
right places.
4. The Production/Printing Department this is another department in
anewspaper establishment whose name simply tells people the job that they perform.
This department is responsible for the printing of the newspapers. The department is
in charge of everything that has to do with the production and printing of the papers,
which includes, transforming journalists stories into type and maintaining the
printing machines.
5. The Accounting Department this is where figures are worked on. Every business
needs accounting in order to survive and move forward. The accounting department is
responsible for all the accounting work in the establishment. Some of these
accounting works include the preparation of books of accounts, preparation of the
budget, making financial plans, preparing the balance sheet, and what have you.
6. The Administrative Department this department is responsible for thegeneral
administration of the entire establishment. The department is in charge of certain very
important duties such as planning, organizing and staffing.
7. The stores Department this is a department that has one sole responsibility which is
to properly store newsprint and all the raw materials used for printing. They also store
all other materials that are used in the establishment.
There is also another very crucial department that is found in most big newspaperorganizations
called the Legal Department who are in charge of all legal matters. Some
big newspaper establishments also have departments such as Human Resource, Marketing and
even IT departments.