Stylebooks were rare in Austrian newsrooms a decade ago (Grünangerl & Trappel, 2011) – and this has not changed. Editors-in-chief still rely more on the individual professionalism of their journalistic staff than on formalised rules. They emphasised the implicitness of such criteria in the journalistic working process. Discussions on news values and news selection are occasion-driven and part of the journalistic routines (Grünangerl & Trappel, 2011). Such routines typically foresee that up to five persons read and edit stories before they are published. All editors-in-chief emphasised that news items would not be published without being checked by at least two people, although they admitted that this was not always ensured rigorously under time pressure. ORF has more institutionalised and complex forms of news selection, as a check and re-check system has been implemented. By law, but also enshrined in the journalists’ statute, ORF journalists are free and independent in what they report, and their work enjoys integrity safeguard mechanisms (journalists do not have to accept editing by others) (ORF, 2002).
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