
The editorial board is a group of editors, writers, and other people who are charged with implementing a publication's approach to
editorials
An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK), is an article or any other written document, often unsigned, written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper or magazine, that expresses the publication's opinion about ...
and other opinion pieces. The editorials published normally represent the views or goals of the publication's owner or
publisher
Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
.
Mass media
At a newspaper, the editorial board usually consists of the
editor
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...
responsible for the
editorial page and
editorial writers. Some
newspapers
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...
include other personnel as well. Some editorial writers may also have other roles in the publication.
Editorial boards for
magazines
A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...
may include
experts in the subject area that the magazine focuses on, and larger magazines may have several editorial boards grouped by subject. An executive editorial board, which usually includes the executive editor and representatives from the subject-focus boards, may oversee these subject boards.
Editorial boards meet regularly to discuss the latest news and opinion trends and to discuss what the publication should say on a range of issues, including
current events.
They will then decide who will write which editorials and for what day. When such an editorial appears in a newspaper, it is considered the institutional opinion of that newspaper, and the resulting pieces are rarely
signed by the individual primarily responsible for writing it.
At some newspapers, the editorial board will also review
wire service
A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and All-news radio, radio and News broadcasting, television Broadcasting, broadcasters. A news agency ma ...
and
syndicated columns for inclusion on the editorial page and the
op-ed
An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page," is a type of written prose commonly found in newspapers, magazines, and online publications. They usually represent a writer's strong and focused opinion on an issue of relevance to a targeted a ...
page. Book and magazine publishers will often use their editorial boards to review or select manuscripts or articles, and sometimes to check facts. Book publishers may also make use of editorial boards, using subject experts to select
manuscript
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...
s. Editorial boards are less common for broadcasters, as typical
television news programs rarely include opinion content.
A typical editorial board for a newspaper has three or four employees.
In early 2023, the editorial board for
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
comprised 14 employees, all from its Opinion department. Some newspapers, particularly small ones, do not have an editorial board, choosing instead to rely on the judgment of a single editorial page editor.
In the 1700s, if any editorial were published, it had typically written by the owner or was an op-ed.
In the 1800s, subscribers wanted to know the opinion of the individual, such as
Horace Greeley
Horace Greeley (February 3, 1811 – November 29, 1872) was an American newspaper editor and publisher who was the founder and newspaper editor, editor of the ''New-York Tribune''. Long active in politics, he served briefly as a congres ...
.
In the US, the trend towards unsigned editorials began before 1900, especially at politically conservative newspapers, and when demand surged for signed, analytical content, newspapers turned to
syndicated columnists to fill the gap.
The editorial board meeting ran by
Phyllis E. Grann at
Putnam was called the "Thursday Morning Breakfast Meeting." The meeting was described in ''
New York Magazine
''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, with a particular emphasis on New York City.
Founded by Clay Felker and Milton Glaser in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'' a ...
'' as, "8:30 event had a war-room atmosphere, with representatives of every department--editorial, publicity, sales and marketing--reporting in to Grann, who made decisions like a Mike Milken-style bond trader, constantly evaluation and re-evaluating her positions."
Some editorial boards additionally publish
blogs
A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...
, where they can publish additional information and interact with readers.
Early editorial board blogs, such as CBS's Public Eye blog, were associated with
reporting scandals.
Academic journals
Almost all
academic journal
An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the ...
s have an editorial board consisting of selected, unpaid experts in the academic field covered by a journal. This is almost always an honorary position, although board members sometimes provide
peer review
Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (:wiktionary:peer#Etymology 2, peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the ...
of submissions. A member may be asked to review several manuscripts per year and may edit a
special issue. The members may also be consulted regarding new regulations at the journal. They are expected to promote the journal among their peers.
Editorial Boards
Elsevier
Elsevier ( ) is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', ''Cell (journal), Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, ...
See also
*
*
References
External links
''Editorial Boards and the Public Interest'' by Clint Reilly
''Editorial Boards of Journal of Maize Research and Development''
* http://nmrp.gov.np/journal-of-maize-research-and-development/editorial-board-jmrd/
{{Journalism roles
Editing
Journalism occupations
Newspaper content
Publishing