Clarify roles in a newsroom

1. Why clarify roles?

An editorial team brings together very different professions (writing, video, social media, design, tech) who contribute at specific moments on the same content. This diversity is a strength. It becomes a source of friction when no one knows exactly where their scope ends and where another's begins.

Clarifying roles isn't about adding bureaucracy to work. It's about creating the conditions for everyone to focus on what they do best, without having to guess who decides, who approves, or who simply needs to be kept in the loop.

In the editorial organizations we work with, role-related tensions often take similar forms:

• decisions that drag on because nobody feels legitimately authorized to approve ;
• people consulted too late, when the work is already well underway;
• teams that are informed unevenly, creating information asymmetries that hamper coordination.

These situations rarely have a single cause. They often signal that a conversation hasn't yet taken place: the one that makes it possible to collectively name who does what.

2. The RACI matrix: what is it?

The RACI matrix is a tool for clarifying roles throughout a project or editorial production. It makes it clear who does what without overcomplicating the organization.

Its principle is straightforward: for each task or step in a production workflow, each person involved is assigned one of four possible roles — Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed.

What the RACI matrix is not:

• an organizational chart or a job description;
• a monitoring or surveillance tool;
• a static document that you fill out once and forget about.

It is first and foremost a dialogue tool. Its value lies less in the matrix itself than in the conversation it generates within the team. The RACI secures these interactions without rigidifying the organization.

The four roles in detail

Each task or deliverable is assigned four possible roles.

R — Responsible These are the people who actually carry out the task. They make day-to-day decisions about how the work is conducted. There can be multiple responsible parties for the same task, but be aware: the more there are, the more complex coordination becomes.

A — Approver This is the person responsible for ensuring the work is completed successfully. They don't necessarily do the task themselves, but they validate, referee and make decisions. There must be only one approver per task—this is essential to avoid bottlenecks and pending decisions.

C — Consulted These are people whose input is important. They don't perform the task, but their feedback can influence a decision. Consultation involves two-way exchange: they're asked a question and they provide their response.

I — Informed These are people who must be kept up to date on progress without having input into decisions. Communication is one-way: they are informed, and no feedback from them is expected.

3. How to Build Your Own RACI Matrix

Here's a four-step method you can apply in your workshop with your team.

Step 1 — List tasks and key milestones

Start by mapping out the main stages of your production journey: brief, copywriting, editorial review, technical integration, distribution, analysis… Don't try to be comprehensive from the start; focus on the stages where roles are unclear or a source of tension.

Ask your team: "At which stage of our production do you most often feel unsure about who makes the decision?" The answers will directly point you to the tasks to prioritize.

Step 2 — Identify the people involved

List in a column the people or roles involved: writer, social media manager, videographer, section editor, management, external provider… At this stage, don't limit yourself: it's better to have too many people initially and remove some later.

Step 3 — Assign Roles

For each task, assign a role (R, A, C, or I) to each person listed. A few questions to guide you:

• Who actually does this work? → R
• Who has final approval and makes the decision if needed? → A
• Who should be consulted before finalizing? → C
• Who should simply be kept informed? → I

Some boxes may remain empty; a person doesn't necessarily have a role for every task, but only one person must validate!

Step 4 — Verify and validate collectively

Once the first draft is complete, verify:

• Does each task have exactly one approver?
• Are there any tasks without any Responsible?
• Are there people who are Responsible for too many tasks at once?
• Are there people who are systematically Informed but never Consulted, even though they could add value?

The RACI is built in a workshop, not alone. The exercise of collective completion is often more valuable than the final document: it uncovers misunderstandings, blind spots, and imbalances that no one had explicitly articulated until then.

4. A Few Examples

The WSJ Money Challenge

In summer 2020, the Wall Street Journal launched the Money Challenge: a six-week email course to introduce its readers to the basics of personal finance. A product designed to last, born from a collaboration between editorial, marketing, audience, and innovation teams—so many stakeholders who could have gotten in each other's way.

To avoid this, the project team applied a RACI framework. In practice, several people took on multiple roles: reporting and writing were handled by the same people. But the framework posed a useful question: who decides, who is consulted, who is simply kept informed? For example, when creating illustrations for this editorial product, the designer was able to test several visual directions independently; marketing had the guarantee of being consulted before finalization, without intervening at every step.

This framework made it possible to avoid a situation where "too many cooks spoil the broth", while ensuring that everyone felt legitimate in their role.

City of Paris

In late 2025, Médianes, le studio conducted a mission with Paris City's information department, with the objective of harmonising and improving the practices of this department that brings together 55 professionals – writers, videographers, community managers, photographers – who collaborate every day to produce, edit and publish content across the city's various platforms and channels. We used the RACI matrix as a central working tool to clarify roles between different departments and hierarchical levels.

In an institutional context where validation processes are numerous and political stakes are real, the RACI made it possible to ask a simple yet structuring question: for each editorial product, who executes, who approves, who is consulted, who is informed? This work brought to light several gray areas and enabled the team to establish a common framework to resolve them.

In brief

To clarify roles in your editorial organization, keep three principles in mind:

1. Only one approver per task. It's the non-negotiable condition to prevent bottlenecks and decisions that never get made.

2. Build the RACI as a team, not alone. The document matters less than the conversation it generates. It's by filling in the matrix together that you uncover the real gaps.

3. Review it regularly. A RACI isn't set in stone. Roles evolve with projects, teams and formats …and the RACI must keep up.

To go further

• On rituals and collective organization: discover our practical guide on the ideal journey of content and the role of product coordinator in structuring your editorial production.
• On management in media: consult the Guide to project management in newsrooms, translated and adapted for French-speaking audiences by us, or meet its author, Robin Kwong, former head of audience retention at the Wall Street Journal.
• Management is often viewed as the media's weak point. An overview of best practices.