Of publishers and newsroom involvement

We were curious about to what degree publisher attendance at newsroom meetings was typical, and whether the "wall between church and state", a.k.a. "firewall", a.k.a. "Chinese Wall" (intended to prevent business pressures from sullying the newsroom), is expected to keep a publisher away from the newsroom.

So we asked some nonlocal people with newspaper involvement, who shall for the most part remain nameless.

The general consensus seemed to be that the publisher can pretty much do whatever he wants, although typically he doesn't; and the larger the paper, the less likely he is to get involved in the newsroom.

The question "doesn't this compromise newsroom independence"? was met with "he's the publisher; it's his job to balance news and advertising sides" - or "he can do what he wants".

Responses are at this post on NCDocuments.