Our interviewees alluded rather to restrictions than to democratic structures in the newsrooms. A newsroom council does not exist in any of the selected media outlets. For all cases, nomination of the editor-in-chief is exclusively in the hands of the management. In some instances, the acting editor-in-chief holds informal conversations, concerning his or her deputies with the heads of the editorial sections. However, this does not seem to influence the management’s final decision. Some interviewees stated that there are no formal procedures (or company rules) to ensure journalists’ participation in decision-making. But still, the moods from the journalists in the newsrooms are being taken into account when a new editor-in-chief or a new newsroom chief is being nominated. Past experience has shown that editors-in chief who take over the job against the will of the staff have a hard time succeeding. There is, so to speak, an informal equality but no “bottom-up” democracy.
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