Mastheads™
Studio
All ten editorial desks
Desk I of X

Editorial Director

The Editorial Director sets the reader, promise and angle of every article before research or writing begins.

  • Every article
  • One role
  • Live
Where it sits
  1. IEditorial Director
  2. IISource Desk
  3. IIIPlanning Desk
  4. IVWriters Desk
  5. VFact Desk
  6. VIQA Desk
  7. VIIEditor-in-Chief
  8. VIIIStandards Desk
  9. IXArt Desk
  10. XProduction Desk

The Editorial Director is Desk 1 of the ten editorial desks and works beside the Source Desk. The Director shapes your order into an assignment while the Source Desk finds the pages that can support it. The Planning Desk, Writers Desk and every checking desk then work from that assignment.

What it does

The Editorial Director is the first of the ten editorial desks at Mastheads. It turns your request into a clear assignment before any research or writing begins. It decides who the article is for, what it should give them, what line it should take and what each section must answer.

That assignment gives the Source Desk, Planning Desk, Writers Desk and every checking desk the same reader, promise and angle to work from. Without it, the later desks would not share a purpose, and the finished article would not feel considered from headline to close.

One role works here: the Director, which turns your order into the assignment every desk after it follows.

What it takes in

The Editorial Director takes in your request and your choices for format, language, country, length, headline, outline and whether to research. It also knows the date. If your subject has already been searched, it reads the result titles and one line from each result, so it can place a new product or smaller company in context.

What it hands on

The Editorial Director passes on the reader, promise, angle, headline and sections. Each section has a question it must answer, for example: how much water remained in a reservoir, and when was that amount measured? The Source Desk uses these questions to judge which pages matter, and the Writer follows the outline once you approve it. On the Create pages you can edit the headline, sections and direction before writing begins, and every later desk follows your changes. The Editorial Director does this for Create, bulk, API and newsroom articles.

What it guarantees

4 things it holds to, on every article it touches.

  • Your decisions stay yours.

    Your format, subjects, length, source choices and publishing preference carry into the assignment.

  • Evidence decides what is true.

    The Director sets the questions and angle. The Source Desk searches in your words and finds the evidence, so editorial judgement stays separate from reporting.

  • Published reporting supports every section.

    The Director plans sections that published sources can fill. It does not set a section that would require first-hand testing or a visit.

  • Policy applies from the start.

    A request outside the newsroom's content policy gets a clear reason before research or writing begins.

One example

Say you ask for an article about a new rule for savings accounts. The Editorial Director defines the reader as someone deciding this month whether to move their savings. It asks what changes, when it changes, who it affects and what it means for a typical saver. Every paragraph then has a clear purpose.

On your article

The Editorial Director's decisions show in an article built for one reader and one promise, with a clear angle and sections that each answer their assigned question. The same purpose carries from the headline to the close.

Live. It works on every article.

Questions

What people ask about the Editorial Director.

What is the Editorial Director?
The Editorial Director is the first of the ten editorial desks at Mastheads, and the desk that turns your request into an assignment. The assignment sets the reader, promise, angle, headline and sections, with a question for each section, before research or writing begins.
What goes into a content brief before writing starts?
A Mastheads content brief starts with your request and your choices for format, language, country, length, headline, outline and whether to research. The Editorial Director turns those choices into the reader, promise, angle, headline, sections and the question each section must answer.
How does an assignment guide the editorial process?
At Mastheads, the assignment is the shared purpose every later desk works from. The Source Desk uses each section's question to judge which pages matter. After you approve the outline, the Writer follows it, and every later desk follows any changes you make on the Create pages.
Can you change the article outline before writing begins?
Yes. On the Create pages in Mastheads, you can edit the headline, sections and direction before writing begins. Every later desk follows those changes to the outline, so the article follows the Editorial Director's assignment as you have edited it.
What is a section question in a Mastheads article?
A section question in Mastheads states what a section planned by the Editorial Director must answer, such as how much water remained in a reservoir and when that amount was measured. The Source Desk uses these questions to judge which pages matter, and the Writer follows them once you approve the outline.
How does the Editorial Director handle a new product or smaller company?
If the subject has already been searched, the Mastheads Editorial Director reads each result title and one line from each result. That lets it place a new product or smaller company in context before it sets the assignment.
Does the Editorial Director choose the sources for an article?
No. The Mastheads Editorial Director sets the questions and angle, while the Source Desk searches in your words and finds the evidence. That keeps editorial judgement separate from reporting.
Does Mastheads keep my format, length and source choices when it plans an article?
Yes. Your format, subjects, length, source choices and publishing preference carry into the assignment the Mastheads Editorial Director sets, so every later desk works to your decisions.
Can Mastheads plan a section that needs first-hand testing?
No. The Mastheads Editorial Director plans only sections that published sources can fill. It does not set a section that would require first-hand testing or a visit.
What happens if a request is outside the content policy?
Mastheads gives you a clear reason when a request falls outside the newsroom's content policy, before any research or writing begins. The Editorial Director applies the policy at the start of the assignment.
Which articles does the Editorial Director work on?
The Mastheads Editorial Director sets the assignment for Create, bulk, API and newsroom articles. It is Desk 1 of the ten editorial desks, so each of these articles starts with its decisions about reader, promise and angle.
What are the ten editorial desks at Mastheads?
Mastheads writes source-backed articles through ten editorial desks, in this order: Editorial Director, Source Desk, Planning Desk, Writers Desk, Fact Desk, QA Desk, Editor-in-Chief, Standards Desk, Art Desk and Production Desk. The Editorial Director comes first.
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