Leading Austrian news media houses strictly separate the newsroom from both the ownership and the advertising and commercial departments.
With regard to ownership, newspapers separate their newsrooms from owners, although, in most cases, there are no legally binding rules in place. Editors-in-chief confirmed that owners rarely visit the newsroom and never intervene in editorial matters. This also applies to public service radio and television, where newsroom journalists strictly reject interventions by the board of trustees. The few cases of interventions in newscasts by board members that are retained in collective memory were immediately made public and did not continue.
With regard to the separation of newsrooms from advertising departments, one newspaper (Salzburger Nachrichten) pointed to the fact that both departments are even physically separated, operating in different wings of the (same) building. All our respondents confirmed this strict separation with no contact, let alone interventions.
Nonetheless, some news sections are prone to influence and collaboration between journalists and advertising departments, such as travel, leisure or holiday, and mobility (cars) sections. Some newspapers have drawn a demarcation line by employing staff just for these sections, not working in the newsrooms but exclusively for the commercial section. Other newspapers occasionally mix staff, working for both sides. However, this, too, is rare and not general practice.
