１７世纪初西方新闻传播业诞生时，萌芽状态的报刊印刷业都是老板兼任总编，集编辑人与发行人于一身。一直到１８１７年，欧洲资产阶级独立报纸的典范《泰晤士报》，首创总编辑制，从此编辑人与发行人正式宣告分离。当时《泰晤士报》的报业主约翰·沃尔特二世（Ｊｏｈ Ｗａｌｔ At the beginning of the 17th century, when the western news media was born, the budding newspapers and periodicals were all chief editors and editors and distributors. Until 1817, the “The Times,” a model for the European bourgeois independent newspaper, pioneered the chief editor, and since then the editor and the publisher have officially declared their separation. Johns Walt, newspaper publisher of The Times at the time