Members of the 2010 GateHouse News & Interactive LEDE class are continuing their summer visits to some of the company's top newsrooms to learn how they operate.
The 10 members of the LEDE class (complete list in sidebar at right) will each spend two days working with top editors, and follow an initial three-day training program at N&I headquarters in Downers Grove, Ill., and a summer of exercises where participants researched and reported on each department in their local operation. This year's program will culminate in another training seminar in the fall in Downers Grove.
Here are five questions with Utica (N.Y.) Observer-Disptach multimedia team leader William Cannon, who recently visited the Rockford (Ill.) Register Star.
1. Talk about one idea you brought back to your newsroom that could right away change the way you operate.
We are going to revisit the way our photos are processed and address some ongoing quality issues with a different approach to the situation that avoids territorial disputes.
2. What did you learn about internal communication and planning strategies in a successful newsroom model?
We need to focus on the stakeholders in each of our initiatives. We often manage down without asking those involved to offer their insight into how we can approach a news project.
3. What did you learn about newsroom leadership in your visit?
I will be be more proactive about managing up. How my supervisor prefers to communicate, delegate and interact with me is something on which I need to focus more attention.
4. Long term, what ideas or practices did you learn that you plan to use to build your skill set or make improvements in your newsroom?
Clearly defined processed, or SOPs, are a reliable way to ensure that all staffers know what is expected. While they can sometimes limit creativity, they are also effective at reducing errors and inconsistencies.
5. The memory from your visit that will stick with you the most:
Being respectfully yet bluntly told by (Rockford executive editor) Linda Grist Cunningham that I am about to be pushed very hard and I'd better be ready. It was exactly what I needed, even if it was tough. In the end, that "no bull" approach cracked open my mind and shed light on some bad habits, new skills and fostered a return of my enthusiasm for journalism and newsroom management.
Members of the 2010 GateHouse News & Interactive LEDE class are continuing their summer visits to some of the company's top newsrooms to learn how they operate.
The 10 members of the LEDE class (complete list in sidebar at right) will each spend two days working with top editors, and follow an initial three-day training program at N&I headquarters in Downers Grove, Ill., and a summer of exercises where participants researched and reported on each department in their local operation. This year's program will culminate in another training seminar in the fall in Downers Grove.
Here are five questions with Utica (N.Y.) Observer-Disptach multimedia team leader William Cannon, who recently visited the Rockford (Ill.) Register Star.
1. Talk about one idea you brought back to your newsroom that could right away change the way you operate.
We are going to revisit the way our photos are processed and address some ongoing quality issues with a different approach to the situation that avoids territorial disputes.
2. What did you learn about internal communication and planning strategies in a successful newsroom model?
We need to focus on the stakeholders in each of our initiatives. We often manage down without asking those involved to offer their insight into how we can approach a news project.
3. What did you learn about newsroom leadership in your visit?
I will be be more proactive about managing up. How my supervisor prefers to communicate, delegate and interact with me is something on which I need to focus more attention.
4. Long term, what ideas or practices did you learn that you plan to use to build your skill set or make improvements in your newsroom?
Clearly defined processed, or SOPs, are a reliable way to ensure that all staffers know what is expected. While they can sometimes limit creativity, they are also effective at reducing errors and inconsistencies.
5. The memory from your visit that will stick with you the most:
Being respectfully yet bluntly told by (Rockford executive editor) Linda Grist Cunningham that I am about to be pushed very hard and I'd better be ready. It was exactly what I needed, even if it was tough. In the end, that "no bull" approach cracked open my mind and shed light on some bad habits, new skills and fostered a return of my enthusiasm for journalism and newsroom management.
