|
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 |
