THE RELATIONSHIP OF JOB-SATISFACTION TO NEWSROOM POLICY CHANGES

The impact of newsroom policies on job satisfaction was studied in an on-site survey of 429 newsroom staffers at twelve West Coast daily new spapers. The study found that newsroom policy changes are affecting jo urnalists' job satisfaction, primarily through the perceived impact of such changes on newspaper quality and on the balance between business and journalism in the newsroom. If the newspaper's quality was percei ved as improving, job satisfaction was higher, if journalism was perce ived as taking a back seat to business, job satisfaction was lower. Al so important were the amount of emphasis on profits (which lowered job satisfaction) and on journalistic policies (which raised job satisfac tion). Newspaper size was not found to be a major factor in job satisf action, but ownership structure was.