(Untitled)

[solituddegitana]

Has anyone here been interviewed by a newspaper's publisher during the application process? What kind of questions can I expect? My experiences with interviews (and even work, for that matter) have only gone as far up as editor in chief or CEO, so I'm clueless as to what the publisher might ask.

Comments

[seeking4sophia]

Publishers aren't normally involved in newsmaking decisions, unless it's a super-small paper. Normally they handle the business end -- advertisers, the paper's relationship to the community, etc.

Not sure what they'd ask you, but good questions to ask publishers during interviews are very big-picture. "What is the paper's role in the community?" "How does your paper plan to attract more revenue and stay viable?" Stuff like that.

[solituddegitana]

Excellent - that's along the lines of what I was thinking. Short and long term goals for the paper, etc. Thanks :)

It's not a terribly small paper - big city, fairly large circulation... the only thing is it's a weekly. Maybe that's why the publisher's involved?

[seeking4sophia]

Well maybe that's another question to ask: What is your management style and your role in the news gathering side of things? Do you sign off on the editorials?
That sounds like something I'd certainly want to know if I was working there -- how much does the guy in charge of advertising get involved with reporting decisions?

[anthologie]

Yeah, and small papers are the only places where I've been interviewed by the publisher. He asked me what I thought the importance of community journalism was, the relationship between a newspaper and a town, and so on, the big-picture stuff as you mentioned.

[rabidchiapet]

I was interviewed by the publisher at my first interview at a paper.
But the publisher pretty much just asked some basic chatty questions (where are you from, why do you want the job) and then talked about herself some. ;O)

[fly_that_flag]

I agree with the above suggestions. I've only been interviewed by the publisher once (a paper where I did not end up working), but I also took time to ask about the paper's Web site and its role in combination with the print edition.