De hoofdredacteur - The editor - Le directeur des rédactions. A comparative analysis of the position of an editor-in-chief in the Netherlands, Great Britain and France.

This research questions the position of an editor-in-chief in the Netherlands, Great Britain and France, three different types of journalism as well according to Hallin and Mancini. Research on the position of the editor-in-chief is scarce and a comparative intercultural approach has never been used in this particular field of journalism studies. In the first chapter a literature overview results in a description of responsibilities and qualities that an editor-in-chief should have towards his editorial staff and Executive Board. Relevant are also the leadership styles of an editorial leader as described by De Wolff. In the three following chapters portraits are given of three national quality papers that are left-of-centre and their current editor-in-chief. These are ‘hoofdredacteur’ Peter Vandermeersch of Dutch NRC Handelsblad, the British editor Alan Rusbridger for The Guardian and finally Le Monde’s new ‘directeur des rédactions’ Erik Izraelewicz. Each portrait states the current state of the media landscape, a history of the paper and its editor-in-chief, his tasks and leadership style. But an editor-in-chief must also cope with internal and external influences like an editorial statute, code of conduct, style guides, a readers’ editor, unions, press councils and networks for editors. All of this is presented in these chapters, most of it is based on literature. The chapter on Peter Vandermeersch also contains information from an interview that was held for this research. Finally, it can be said that these three editors-in-chief have more or less the same position. They are mainly involved with other things than producing his paper and coaching his journalists. An editor-in-chief has usually delegated these tasks to his deputies, which shows that teamwork is of importance for an editor-in-chief. He must also be able to represent the paper and feel confident doing this, and to have vision and innovation during these journalistic difficult times. There are some national accents to be found on the position of an editor-in-chief, caused by organizational structures and the possible influence of owners and politics which makes it in some countries more difficult for and editor-in-chief to be truly independent.