Newsroom Culture

Norman P. Lewis

Newsroom culture refers to the assimilation of unwritten workplace rules and shared assumptions regarding values, beliefs and practices. Unlike climate, which can vary between organizations and change with each leader, newsroom culture is embedded into the customs and mores of the profession and evolves gradually. Culture is a sociological feature of all workplaces, a function of human interaction. What makes newsroom culture significant is its influence on how news is defined and reported. Journalists have norms that govern behavior, such as acceptance of minor deceptions to obtain a story or uneven treatment of presidential candidates during primary elections based on who is deemed to have a chance of getting elected. Because these foun-dational beliefs are seldom articulated, journalists rarely discuss newsroom culture or acknowledge its influence on their everyday routines. Therefore, most writing about newsroom culture comes not from journalists, but from sociologists and academics studying workplace behavior, and analyzing ...

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