All leaders have power and all leaders exercise their power for either good or bad. This is especially true in a crisis, when a leader’s use of power can have a profound effect on the future of an organization. Done right, effective leadership during a …
Journalists who have clear long-term career goals are significantly better positioned for success than those who have not taken the time to think logically about their futures. That’s a pretty simple statement, but none the less true. In 30 years of running stations, I interacted …
Attacks on the news media are nothing new, especially from American presidents. Even that vocal defender of a free press, Thomas Jefferson, had it up to here on occasion with newspapers and "the malignity, the vulgarity, and mendacious spirit of those who write for them." Richard …
Running a newsroom is both a sprint and a marathon. You have to move fast as things change, sometimes minute to minute, while also planning for the long term. How do you manage? Some of the most popular tools in newsrooms are free and open source, …
My hometown newspaper, The Washington Post, has been rocketing up the comScore rankings of top digital media companies. Last August, it wasn't even in the top 50. Two months later, the Post ranked 36th, beating the New York Times (37th) for the first time ever. How much of that improvement is …
One of the first things to go when a newsroom shrinks is regular feedback. Everyone has more work to do, including managers, and there just doesn't seem to be time to give employees feedback on their work. In many cases, what happens instead is an …
By Stan Heist When I was a news photographer I carried a lot of gear in the back of my car. Perhaps the most important thing – and most seldom used – was a small blue duffel bag that I called my “go-kit.” Inside the go-kit were …
A fascinating piece by Scott Jensen in the latest NPPA News Photographer magazine traces the path each of the 2011 stations of the year followed to get where they are today. What struck me was what Seattle's KING-TV, KCCI in Des Moines, and WAVY in …
by Joe Enea All stations have about the same equipment and physical resources. What makes one station different from the rest? The people working there. Chemistry among the team is important in this business. Dealing with people under pressure with major time …
Television news has always been a team sport. Almost nothing gets on the air that hasn't been touched by several sets of hands. Reporters, photographers, video editors, producers and managers all influence the content. But in many TV newsrooms, there's rarely much discussion about how …
Awkward. Inspiring. Hilarious. That's how it looked from my seat at last night's RTDNF dinner honoring some of the biggest names in broadcast news. Awkward? That would be ABC News president David Westin speed-reading his way through remarks accepting the First Amendment leadership award just a …
Phone calls, email, social media: Journalists today are more accessible than ever. Soliciting comments, video and photos on the Web opens up the newsroom for input from the community; so does crowdsourcing on Twitter or Facebook. But how much interaction with readers, viewers and listeners …
