The history and culture of the newsroom in Germany

Abstract

Today journalistic production takes place within “editorial offices” or “newsrooms”. But such newsrooms did not exist when newspapers first emerged. This paper describes, based primarily on the evidence of building structure and architectural floor plans, when and why special newsrooms were created in Germany and how they developed. At first these rooms were small, and journalists often resided there too. From the late nineteenth century editorial offices became differentiated and, in the German case typically became separate rooms reflecting newspapers' different editorial subjects and sections, thereby fostering their journalistic autonomy. Only recently can changes towards alternative structures and open-plan offices be observed. Meanwhile the production of internet news returns to an organization that does not require a newsroom. This paper argues that newsroom structure has influenced journalism in Germany, which did not change its production routines much after World War II when the American journalism style was declared to be the standard.