Rule regimes in news organization decision making : Explaining diversity in the actions of news orga...
Explaining diversity in the actions of news organizations during extraordinary events

<jats:p>This article aims to move beyond the previous reliance on structural and bureaucratic routines in explaining news production. As a way of moving beyond the previous focus on homogeneity in the responses of news organizations, a neo-institutional framework is proposed. The following is a case study on management decision making during 11 September 2001 in three Swedish broadcasting organizations: Swedish Radio (SR), Swedish Television (SVT) and TV4. This article aims to explain why two of the managerial bodies (SR and TV4) made scheduling decisions that had never been applied before as a response to the terror attack, whereas SVT chose to broadcast according to their previous established policy on extraordinary events. In the context of organizational ‘rule regimes’, the article examines the reason for news organizations adopting routine or inspirational decisions.</jats:p>