This paper analyses the relationship between journalism as institution (i.e. the collective of organizations involved in the production of journalism) and journalism as work (i.e. as an activity performed by individuals) by comparing and contrasting journalism – as exemplified by the ‘newspaper of record’ in each respective country – in four European countries, Britain, Sweden, Germany and Estonia, around 1860. The focus is on the organization of journalistic work and on journalism as salaried labour. In particular Britain has been studies extensively in this regard before, so this paper uses Britain and the Times as its prime example but also highlights the exceptional nature of this case and uses comparative analysis to demonstrate key differences in the journalism-as-work/journalism-as-institution relationship between these four countries.