Newsroom topic teams: Journalists' assessments of effects on news routinesand newspaper quality

This study examines the effects of newsroom topic teams on news routines an d newspaper quanlity. It is based on a census survey of journalists at the Star Tribune (Minneapolis) and the St. Paul Pioneer Press, which both insti tuted topic teams within six months of each other. Survey results ave suppl emented by focus group and written comments from journalists in these two N ewspaper Guild newsrooms. The study finds that the effects of the team syst em oil the news process nod news qualify have been mixed, but predominantly negative, in the assessment of these journalists.