| Topics: Civic Communication The State
Newsroom Management Reorganization A new "quality-circles" management system implemented in early 1992 flattens the management hierarchy and clusters reportage around ideas, rather than traditional beats. Reporting "clusters" included governance, the workplace, the environment and "community roots," with the latter focusing on such topics as the military and churches. The clusters are designed to follow the agendas of communities rather than bureaucracies. A case study by Project on Public Life and the Press
New York University, Department of Journalism,10 Washington Pl.
New York, NY 10003, (212) 998-3793 © Project on Public Life and the Press,1994 The Project is funded by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The State (newspaper)
P.O. Box 1333
Columbia, S.C. 29202
803-771-8451 (Gil Thelen)
803-771-6161 (Genl)
803-771-8430 (fax) Ownership:
Knight-Ridder
No. newsroom employees: 125 Circulation:
136,000 (daily)
172,000 (Sunday)
Circulation area (Pop.):
South Carolina (3.5 million) Initiative
Newsroom management reorganization Dates:
1991-present Lead Editor:
Gil Thelen, executive editor When and how did this initiative get started?
Starting with brainstorming sessions in late 1991, newsroom officials at The State sought to change the newsroom's organizational structure to make the paper more responsive to the community. Thelen sees experiments in newsroom reorganization as his paper's primary contribution to the public journalism movement. He had worked to alter management structures at previous posts. Thelen believes the newsroom must be democratized to accurately cover and reflect a general movement toward greater diversity in community decision making. What are the goals of the initiative?
Making the newsroom management system more "democratic," and more reflective of the management processes increasingly being used in the community that was covered. What does the initiative entail?
The reorganization process worked from the bottom up, with newsroom staffers asked to rethink what they were covering and why, and whether they were in fact covering subjects people were genuinely interested in reading about. Advisory groups were established using recommendations from reporters and editors, response to a Thelen column asking for advisers, and from Thelen's own informal list of community activists. What does it look like in the newspaper?
The changes have generated significant alterations in coverage. Along with offering such innovations as changes in presentation (more graphics, more information "nuggets") and reader-response phone lines (which run twice a week and generate 75 to 600 calls each), reporters are encouraged to offer specific solutions in stories, as well as outlining problems. Coverage in two of the circles is monitored by advisory panels. A group from the African-American community reviews coverage on a quarterly basis, and eight to 10 government employees work with the governance team every two months to offer suggestions. In these periodic meetings, news staffers work to focus discussion on how to best reach citizens and clarify the paper's reportage. "Gripe sessions" about published stories are discouraged; both parties understand that the meetings are not for airing complaints but for improving the paper's next round of coverage. Response to the Initiative In the newsroom:
Older staffers were less enthusiastic, while younger staffers were more interested in and willing to try the ideas of innovation. Regardless of interest level, Thelen and Managing Editor Paula Ellis were determined to implement a changed system. Elements incorporated into regular newsroom routines and/or culture:
Coverage in two of the circles is monitored by advisory panels. A group from the African-American community reviews coverage on a quarterly basis, and eight to 10 government employees work with the governance team every two months to offer suggestions. However, the paper has had a consistently difficult time assembling reader advisory groups. In the community:
On a 1993 reader survey, among respondents asked about whether the paper was getting better or worse, 60 percent said it was the same, 10 percent said it was worse and 30 percent said it was better. In September 1990, only 10 percent said the paper was getting better. Interest in reader phone-in polls has been high, with 75 to 100 responses twice weekly. Increasingly, people tell Thelen the paper is more interesting and that they spend more time reading it. This response is marked among people of color, community newcomers and university employees, said Thelen, who speaks to community groups at least once a week. He also brings citizens into the newsroom to explain the profession. Among political leaders:
The dominant economic group is unhappy, Thelen said, "because we're no longer the voice for the debutante crowd." Reporters covering downtown business also get unfavorable response, which Thelen also attributes to a change in the type of people generally covered. "If you're democratizing a paper in what has been an oligarchic society, you're going to get a lot of flak," Thelen said. What's next:
Reorganization was confined to reporting/editing staff. Efforts are just beginning to reorganize the copy desk, design department and photo desk. Case study written by Lisa Austin, Assistant Director of the Project on Public Life and the Press, September 1993. Lisa is also a member of the CPN Journalism editorial team. Update The State has concentrated on changing the culture of the newsroom and appears to offer noteworthy success - along with plenty of struggle. Thelen speaks of this as a change "in the whole warp and woof of the place." The newsroom reorganization, Thelen reports, is "now an accepted commitment; it is just how we do business now. We operate without barriers; it is quick and effective journalism; there is lateral communicating; we trust the process." Then Thelen asks "Is it utopia?" and answers: "No, we still have a sticking point between those editors who generate the stories and those editors who must produce the paper. That tension continues." Does the public notice? They definitely seem to. Thelen cites a recent note from a man who once worked at the paper who sent praise for what he called "a remarkable turnabout; subtle, gentle." He noticed better writing; better reporting. As an example, members of the paper's community roots team specifically decided to avoid the controversy model of coverage in dealing with a perennial controversy - the flying of the confederate flag over the statehouse. After a one-hour newsroom meeting, the team decided to fan out in the community to find out "what's really bugging people on this issue." Reporters asked what people feared on the flag issue: Did they really use the issue to re-fight the Civil War? Is it a surrogate issue among poor whites for their socioeconomic plight? The operations of the community roots team have definitely fed more faces and voices into the paper. Thelen says they have not yet fathomed "the nature of the various communities within the broader community," but as a process, this is evolving agreeably. Like six other newsroom teams, community roots is a self-directed group, handling both editorial and management responsibilities. The team has even asked to be considered for salary increases as a group, not one by one. Thelen believes his greatest challenge is to help citizens get beyond what most newspapers have taught the public for many years. To this end, he writes a twice-a-month column about the newsroom, newsroom issues, public journalism.
- RCN, 5/94 More Information Project on Public Life and the Press
New York University
Department of Journalism
10 Washington Pl.
New York, NY 10003
(212) 998-3793 Back to Communication Index | 
