News Manager Guidance
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NPR Digital Services
NPR is rapidly growing its digital arm and its training services. NPR is not only advancing innovation for NPR’s own purposes, but it is also actively engaged in advancement and training for stations and station-based journalists. Check out NPR’s new Editorial Training site! Below are some of earlier online webinars and workshops provided by
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Measuring Productivity of the News Team
There is a natural tension between a manager’s need to maximize newsroom productivity and a staff member’s need for fair and reasonable expectations. This tension can become heated when either party feels a lack of balance or a lack of understanding. Generally, all employees want to be productive. News Directors should welcome a chance to
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Job Description: News Director
Note: As news managers grow in organizational leadership, they may be granted new titles such as “Vice President of News.” See that sample job description here, courtesy of Vermont Public Radio. A news managers duties are often described with some apportionment of time per duty. The apportionment will vary per employer — with small stations
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Job Description: Reporter
This is a generic job description for a public media news reporter: Function The News Reporter works under the supervision of the News Director. The Reporter specializes in covering a news beat and producing high value journalistic content for publication on radio and digital platforms, including daily news reports, in-depth feature reports and special reports
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Allocate Time for Assignments
While it would be preferable to let every story show us its own unique time requirements, we are more likely to estimate what we can spare based on past patterns and similar circumstances.
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Defining Public Radio News Excellence
What do we mean by quality local news? Exploit the Aesthetic Imperatives of Your Medium. The message received by listeners is influenced by the inherent nature of the audio medium. Radio is intimate, immediate and imaginative. Similarly, visual media and mobile media have unique strengths. Use these imperatives in the service of excellent story telling.
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UGC (User Generated Content) Verification
Increasingly newsrooms depend on the eyes and ears — and portable digital devices — of the public. Photos, videos, FB posts, Tweets and text messages can help alert journalists to stories, and can become published content. The trick is to have a verification procedure in place. A guide was published in 2014 to help newsrooms
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The Poynter Institute
The Poynter Institute is non-profit journalism training center based in St Petersburg, Florida. The institute has radically increased its online training, including the launch of its interactive “News University.” Here are just some of the links to online training to help introduce you to what Poynter has to offer: Management & Leadership Digital Strategies Newsgathering
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Journalism Membership Organizations
Most journalism professional organizations provide training as part of their annual conferences, but only a few are providing ongoing training via their websites. Here’s are some of the more active journalism groups with online training initiatives: PRNDI — Public Radio News Directors Inc provides occasional online webinars. It also sponsored this ND guide. SPJ —
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Knight Digital Media Centers
Thanks to the largesse of the Knight Foundation, the biggest name in journalism philanthropy, we have some excellent training centers working to advance innovations in news, including training for newsroom managers and their staffs. The Knight Digital Media Center at USC serves as an information hub. The center lists trainings and also archives online tutorials
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Community Engagement Tools
(From the National Center for Community Engagement….) Engagement Guide Where should you begin? Here are some ideas about how to proceed: If you are new to community engagement, proceed through each phase of the Engagement Process. If you are familiar with community engagement, consider reviewing examples first, then our Case Study as it relates to
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The Multimedia Radio Newsroom, Part One
From the PRNDI conference session, “This Ain’t Your Grandma’s Newsroom!” by M. Marcotte Be Afraid – But Don’t Get Carried Away Our radio world is getting rocked, like the newspaper world got rocked. People with internet smart-phones are listening to audio streams from around the planet. People with tablets are bypassing the local station to get
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The Multimedia Radio Newsroom, Part Two
(Note: Part One is here.) From the 2010 PRNDI session, “This Ain’t Your Grandma’s Newsroom!” by M. Marcotte The 10 Skills You Need Now I won’t have time to cover ALL the online skills you need in your newsroom. But I think it is important to list some of the main ones: Recording, editing and uploading
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Census of Journalists
In 2010, PRNDI carried out the first-ever headcount of all journalists working in U.S. local public radio and television stations. The stations targeted were those qualified for CPB funding. Journalists were defined as anyone with a primary responsibility for the daily gathering, preparation or presentation of local news content. The study was sponsored by the
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Reporter Hire Scoring Criteria
XXXX (BEAT) REPORTER — Search Committee Selection Criteria Score each candidate per category accordingly: 1=unqualified, 2=below standards, 3=meets standards, 4=above standards, 5=exceeds standards (or as advised below) Education – BA meets standards. MA is above standards. PhD exceeds standards. Exceptional experience or amassing considerable non-degree education can serve as equivalent. Also consider grading above standards
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Landmark Audience Research
Public radio researcher David Giovannoni claimed the “research revolution” in public broadcasting began in the 1980s, mostly due to efforts by the Regan Administration to defund public media. While the defunding push didn’t get past congress, it did cause system leaders to realize they needed to turn their attention to what audience’s most wanted and
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The Code of Editorial Integrity for Local Public Media Organizations
“Trust is the most important asset public broadcasting carries forward into its evolving public media future. Audiences rely on our information and perspectives as they make decisions in their public and personal lives. The public consistently says public television and public radio are their most trusted sources among many media choices.” The words above introduce
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NPR Stations Continue Growing Local News
A new survey by MVM Consulting shows NPR member stations around the U.S. are growing their local news staffs, increasing their local news airtime, and beefing up their local online news content. The survey reveals high levels of actual growth last year and similar levels of predicted growth this year. Expansion of Local NPR Newsroom
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NPR Stations See Need to Improve Local Online News
New survey results from MVM Consulting show NPR stations far less satisfied with their online local news than with their local news on air. The data show 72% of NPR stations are “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their on air local news programming. Only 10% were at all dissatisfied with the broadcast product. But when
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Attributes of Local NPR Stations: Online Content
Our 2012 survey of local public media newsrooms shows that most stations still have rather stunted commitments to local news online. The charts in this post provide a break-out of NPR member station findings. (To see all public media results, see this summary piece.) We begin with this overview picture of online content commitments. The chart
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Attributes of Local NPR Stations: On Air Content
Our new survey of local public media newsrooms finds a solid commitment to daily coverage, a broad effort to provide depth coverage, and rather sporadic levels of deep engagement and intensive production. The charts below provide a break-out of NPR member station survey responses on their depth of commitment to local news broadcast elements. (To
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Attributes of Local NPR Stations: Local News Airtime
Data from the 2012 MVM/UNR/USC survey of local NPR news stations show that almost half the stations in the system are producing an hour or less of local news per day (M-F). The other half of the stations go much deeper into local news… with a quarter of stations producing more than 12 hours per
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News Salaries by Market Size
Larger broadcast service areas correlate with higher salaries, but not as directly as with higher budgets. That’s because you find low budget stations in large markets, and they pay low budget salaries not large market salaries. (Go here for news salaries by news budget size.) Here are three charts showing the top 10 annual average
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News Salaries by News Budgets
I’ve sorted the average annual salaries in public radio newsrooms by their station news budgets. As you would expect, the higher budget categories closely correlate with higher average salaries. If you look under “news directors,” for example, you’ll see that stations spending between $500k-$1m a year on their newsrooms, spend an average of $60k-$65k for
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Public Radio News Salaries
Data from a 2010 local public radio station survey shows the overall median news reporter salary under $37,000 per year. The median for all public radio news hosts was $40,000. The median for news directors was $45,000. The overall highest median salary was vice-president of news with a median of $92,500. The lowest median salary
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Local News Initiative
National Public Radio launched the Local News Initiative (LNI) to build the news gathering capacity of its member stations. The goal was to try new ways of working together to make NPR stations more vital, valued and central to the audiences in their communities. The LNI was led by Marsha Alvar, who commissioned this online
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Ethics Codes
The Public Radio News Directors organization touts a simple and direct Code of Ethics built upon three principles: Truth Fairness Integrity The NPR Ethics Handbook provides an interactive tool that begins, “This is NPR. And these are the standards of our journalism.” The section on principles includes: accuracy, fairness, completeness, honesty, independence, impartiality, transparency, accountability,
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Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism: The Elements of Journalism
One organization that has been active in journalism reform and newsroom training is The Committee of Concerned Journalists.
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The First Amendment
The Bill of Rights went into effect in 1791. It made 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which was signed in 1787.
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Sound Reporting: Newscasting
In Sound Reporting: The NPR Guide to Audio Journalism and Production, author Jonathan Kern discusses the many factors that can make a story newsworthy: It will have great impact on people. It’s unusual or unexpected. It’s the first of a kind. It’s timely. It’s controversial. It involves prominent people. It deals with death or tragedy.
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Sound Reporting: Hosting
In Sound Reporting: The NPR Guide to Audio Journalism and Production, author Jonathan Kern discusses the role of program hosts. He likens them to good hosts off the air: They are consummate story-tellers who have a keen sense of what needs to be explained, what facts can be left out, and how to keep people
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Sound Reporting: Reporting
In Sound Reporting: The NPR Guide to Audio Journalism and Production, author Jonathan Kern cites the personality traits and skills of good reporters: A good reporter is curious A good reporter is skeptical A good reporter looks and listens for the truth A good reporter listens well A good reporter absorbs information quickly A good
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Independence and Integrity Guidebooks
Some of the leading journalists in public radio got together to produce two historic guides for dealing with ethical issues. The first of these was produced cooperatively by PRNDI, NPR and PRI in the 90s. It was authored by Professor Alan Stavitsky and was an outgrowth of a summit convened at the Poynter Institute. In
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Jonathan Kern: Story Editing
In this document — an early chapter draft of Sound Reporting — author Jonathan Kern provides a training tool for editors in the NPR system. The sections are: Story Editing The Editor’s Role The Ingredients of a Story Structuring the Story Editing by Ear The Intro The First Track Copy Editing The Ending When to
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Current: History of Public Broadcasting
Current is the biweekly newspaper about public broadcasting. It also publishes a robust website: current.org. Current has developed a rich online history of public broadcasting. The site includes links to the National Public Broadcasting Archive at the University of Maryland.
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LNI: Best Talk Show Practices
Talk shows serve an important role for the community of radio listeners. Whether the program is driven by newsmaker interviews, or issue-oriented debate, or tapping the views of the callers, you give people a place to gather. News oriented talk shows on public radio set a high bar. They stand for accurate information. They prioritize
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More Public Radio Research
Here are links to three of the most prominent sources of quantitative and qualitative research in public radio over the past 30 years. Station Resource Group The SRG is a membership organization that provides analysis, consulting and advocacy work in public radio. It is led by Tom Thomas and Terry Clifford. Walrus Research The president
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Uses and Gratifications Research
“Uses and gratifications” research explains why and how people use media. It advances the basic idea that audiences exercise their choice of media in order to gratify their needs. This helps explain media behavior, as well, in that media have found ways to specialize their audience appeal. See Communication Theory: Uses & Gratifications
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Huntsberger: Qualified Expectations of Audio Reality
Radio journalists know there is an ethical line between the editing of audio that improves a story and editing of audio that distorts the truth. However, it isn’t always easy to articulate the rationale by which we judge the differences. Michael Huntsberger of Furman University provides that rationale in the “Q-EAR Theory.” Q-EAR: An Ethical
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Audio Production
News Directors wear many hats and one of those might be “engineer and artist” when it comes to assembling a first-rate audio production. That’s why it’s important to stay up to speed on changes in audio technology and software programs. Ironically, the first place an ND may turn for help on audio production is a
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Style Guides
Writers and editors conform to a common style for the sake of consistency and to rule out poor practices. While these guidelines may be established by the News Director, often they are derived from one of the well-accepted style guides. Many ND’s simply go with Associated Press (AP) Style. You can now find the AP
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In the Field
Being prepared before you leave the station, that’s the key. For a thorough walk-through on the topic, hear the presentation by Rob Rosenthal: Third Coast Audio Festival: Bring Extra Batteries We also recommend the equipment reviews at Transom.org. Jeff Townes is good at scoping out gear. Go to Transom.org’s Tools
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AMPPR: Host Interviewing Tips
The following tips are excerpted from materials shared by David Srebnik and Cynthia May at the 2008 meeting of AMPPR (Association of Music Personnel in Public Radio). All tips are from experienced network news hosts. Susan Stamberg (Special Correspondent, NPR) Listening to answers is more important than asking the question. Best question is often the
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The Core Values of Public Radio
The Public Radio Program Directors Association (PRPD) sponsored the Core Values Project. It is aimed at clearly defining the fundamental appeal of public radio programming. Here is a handy one page summary of the findings: sample-core-values-news The project worked with PRNDI to apply the core values to local news programming. It produced a PRPD-PRNDI Core
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John Proffitt: web Toolkit
Local public radio newsrooms can move in the direction of multimedia news distribution by adding some basic gear, growing the skills of their employees and taking advantage of low-cost new media tools. John Proffitt of Alaska Public Radio Network prepared this training handout for journalists wanting to add “Web Extras” to their news coverage. Outside
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Paul Bradshaw's News Diamond
Our basic approach to journalism is changing. One British blogger, Paul Bradshaw suggests a model based on a diamond: the tip is the early alert then the model widens as we add facts and details then there’s the middle in which we get full depth, context and analysis then it tapers down to the interactivity
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Jim Russell: Questions for Hosts
In the handy document below, “The Program Doctor” Jim Russell (NPR, APM) provides things to look for in hiring a public radio host. Questions for Hosts
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Poynter Institute: Your Management Style
One of the simplest systems of categorizing leadership styles comes to us from the late Paul Pohlman of the Poynter Institute: OFFICIAL: Relies on rules and directives. Authoritative. Use this sparingly as it stifles discussion and creativity. Can be very effective during a crisis when precision and control is paramount. EXPERT: Operates out of personal
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KPBS Fire Coverage
KPBS in San Diego earned distinction for outstanding crisis response to the major wildfires in October 2007. While radio coverage was outstanding, so was the online coverage.
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Ellen Weiss on Management
Ellen Weiss began working at NPR in 1984, rising in rank to head up WATC, ATC, the National Desk and, in 2007, Senior Vice President for News. She presented a session on news management to the PRNDI Conference in Washington D.C. in 2008. These tips are taken from that session.
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PRNDI: ‘Telling the Story’
In 2008, PRNDI released a study focused on nine successful public radio news stations: KSKA, Anchorage KUOW, Seattle KOPB, Portland KQED, San Francisco KBIA, Columbia KWMU, St Louis WPLN, Nashville WKSU, Kent WEVO, Concord The research explores the connection between strong local news and strong audience support (measured as above-the-median ratings and financial support). The
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KQED and Mondavi: A Matter of Distance?
Funding public broadcasting is a never ending struggle. Sometimes it leads us to reach for dollars that we need more than we want. Make no mistake, our editorial guidelines assure the public that the fundraising effort on the one hand shall not varnish any truth on the other hand. As journalists, we see the firewall
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Ideastream: The New Public Media
When it comes to convergence, one of the most advanced experiments in U.S. public broadcasting has been succeeding in Cleveland, Ohio. There radio station WCPN joined forces with television station WVIZ to create a new media company, Ideastream. Accounts of Ideastream’s progress vary. In the early going, news personnel complained of unsustainable workloads while trying
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WFDD: Licensee Interference
In fall 1999, Wake Forest University’s public radio station found itself caught between serving its journalistic purpose and keeping the lid on a campus controversy. The controversy arose from a Wake Forest trustee’s refusal to allow a lesbian commitment ceremony on campus. The WFDD news department was barred from reporting on the story beyond the
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MPR: Integrating Broadcast and Online
One of the earliest efforts at converging radio and online media in a single newsroom began at Minnesota Public Radio in the 1990s. Bill Buzenberg and Bob Collins helped coax Minnesota Public Radio’s newsroom into online media. “To accomplish this, we found a need to step away from the ‘radio mindset,’” they explained. This mindset
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Public Insight Network
Minnesota Public Radio championed a form of “crowd-sourcing” — harnessing the power of the internet to sift viable information from large numbers of people — by creating PIJ – Public Insight Journalism. The project has since expanded to many stations and is now called Public Insight Network, operated by MPR’s parent, American Public Media. Here’s
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Nancy Updike: Writing for Radio
Nancy Updike is an award-winning journalist whose stories have appeared on public radio programs All Things Considered and Fresh Air, among others. She’s written for The New York Times Magazine, The Boston Globe, Salon and the LA Weekly. Her hour-long radio documentary on American civilians working in Iraq won a 2004 Scripps-Howard National Journalism Award,
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WFUV: Student Training Program
HOW WFUV TRAINS STUDENTS Provided by George Bodarky, News Director, WFUV The WFUV News Workshop Each semester, WFUV News Director George Bodarky conducts a news workshop that teaches students the “abc’s” of radio broadcast journalism. The workshops are a free resource for Fordham students and they are 90 minutes long. To accommodate as many students
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Job Description: Anchor-Editor
This is a generic job description for an afternoon news anchor with script editing and some reporting responsibilities. Function The Anchor/Editor works under the supervision of the News Director. The Anchor/Editor specializes in delivering live radio newscasts, writing copy for radio, prioritizing stories for air, and covering breaking news. The Anchor/Editor may be asked to
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Job Description: Producer/Public Affairs
This is a generic job description for a talk show producer in a news/public affairs dept. Function The Producer, News and Public Affairs works under the supervision of the News Director to produce a daily talk and interview program; and other programs as assigned. Duties Research and Program Production: 55% Works with Senior Producer and
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Job Description: Senior Editor
This is a generic job description for a senior editor in a medium to large newsroom. Function The Senior Editor works under the supervision of the News Director to help manage the day to day coverage of news. The Senior Editor has responsibility and understanding of news planning, reporting, editing and production, and supervises daily
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Strategic Plan
Strategic Plan for News and Public Affairs Prepared by: Year: A. Overview/Introduction (summary of highlights, accomplishments, challenges, purpose of plan) B. Vision/Mission/Principles C. Priority One: Journalism Excellence Goal 1 — “Add Greater Depth: Add full-time reporter” (reason, process, cost) Goal 2 — “Add Greater Depth: Form beat system” (reason, process, cost) Goal 3 — “Improve
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Station Vision and News Department Mission
Station Vision Station XXXX educates, informs, entertains and empowers its audience by acquiring, producing and delivering high quality programming worthy of support. Guiding Principles Station XXXX values community building, lifelong learning, and providing a service accessible to all. The XXXX staff is professional and responsive. They are committed to creating engaging and appealing programs and
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Editor Questions for Reporters
Here are sample questions to ask reporters when first discussing a story idea. To Get at the Focus of the Story What is your story about? Who is in it? What will they be doing? Why is this interesting? Why is this important? To Drive Toward Greater Substance What makes this story necessary? Why now?
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NPR Community
In October 2008, National Public Radio rolled out several new “community tools” on the NPR website. The tools allow individual users to join the NPR Community. They can create profiles and hold discussions and do many other things that social networks allow. Learn more on the NPR Community main page. Activities in the NPR Community
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WBUR Today
The WBUR newsroom in Boston was among the first public radio news stations to distribute a daily e-newsletter, WBUR Today, to thousands subscribers (who signed up at wbur.org). See sign-up form at wbur.org. WBUR Today is comprised of the top stories from the WBUR newsroom as well as as the best national and international stories
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News Department Budget
Below is a rather typical budget for a four-person news department. This view shows annual projections. In an actual budget, you would have columns to track actual spending as it occurs. You should know how to set up a budget in a computer spreadsheet program. PERSONNEL Salary Benefits (20%) Total News Director $50,000 $10,000 $60,000
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NPR Social Media Guidelines
NPR updated its social media guidelines as part of its new ethics guide. The section begins with this admonition: The internet and the social media communities it encompasses can be incredible resources. They offer both a remarkably robust amount of historical material and an incredible amount of “real-time” reporting from people at the scenes of
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Local News Project
The largest and most comprehensive study ever done on listener use and appreciation of local news on public radio was sponsored by PRNDI and a consortium of stations. The “Local News Project” was carried out in 1998 and 1999 by Peter Dominowski of Market Trends Research. The study included a qualitative phase (35 focus groups
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Audience 98 Study
Public radio researcher David Giovannoni claimed the “research revolution” in public broadcasting began in the 1980s, mostly due to efforts by the Regan Administration to defund public media. While the defunding push didn’t get past congress, it did cause system leaders to realize they needed to turn their attention to what audience’s most wanted and
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Audience 88 Study
Public radio researcher David Giovannoni claimed the “research revolution” in public broadcasting began in the 1980s, mostly due to efforts by the Regan Administration to defund public media. While the defunding push didn’t get past congress, it did cause system leaders to realize they needed to turn their attention to what audience’s most wanted and
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Daybook Planner
News Directors use daybook planners to summarize plans for the day and communicate those to all concerned. The sample below is loosely based on a format used at KPBS before the station switched to an electronic system. The daybook includes the ND’s note section, an assignment grid (based on the newsroom assignment board), a calendar
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Story Visioning Worksheet
Story Visioning (Mapping) for Multimedia Newsrooms This worksheet is to help reporters and editors plan better radio & mixed-media story assignments. You can adapt it to your newsroom’s needs. *************** Slug: Headline: Deadline(s): End Product(s) ________________________________ Focus/Framing What is this story most about? Why is it important to us? Why now? Who is involved? Who
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Reporter Hire Interview Questions
INTERVIEW RATING SHEET POSITION: Beat Reporter CANDIDATE: RATER: Rate each candidate on the following scale: 1 – Does Not Meet Minimum Standards 2 – Meets Minimum Standards 3 – Exceeds Standards 4 – Significantly Exceeds Standards QUESTIONS How have you “assembled your career” up to this point? (What key decisions? Why? How did this experience
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Reporter Hire Scoring Criteria
Search Committee Selection Criteria RADIO BEAT REPORTER Score each candidate per category accordingly: 1=unqualified, 2=below standards, 3=meets standards, 4=above standards, 5=exceeds standards (or as advised below) Education – BA meets standards. MA is above standards. PhD exceeds standards. Exceptional experience or amassing considerable non-degree education can serve as equivalent. Also consider grading above standards if
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Crisis Coverage Plan Template
The template below is based on a plan created by KPBS (San Diego) and shared widely through PRNDI. Sample Crisis Coverage Plan (Thanks to Michael Marcotte, Michael Flaster, Doug Myrland, Scott Horsley, Tom Fudge, John Decker, Tammy Carpowich, Leng Caloh, Grace Sevilla, Natalie Walsh, Alan Ray, Ed Joyce, Sarah Rothenfluch, Pam Hardy and Kenny Goldberg.)
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WFUV: Student Contract
(For More on How This Contract Works, see Case Studies → WFUV Student Training Program) By signing on as a paid employee in the WFUV Newsroom, I agree to the following: To provide at least two weeks notice for any time off. I agree to work my normal shift on holidays, university breaks, midterm and
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MPR News Tenets
The former head of news at Minnesota Public Radio, Bill Buzenberg, shared his network’s “Ten Tenets” to a gathering of PRNDI members. We believe… standards matter. journalists should make decisions about important news coverage. in the independence of MPR news. there should be a sharp distinction between news and entertainment. that content is king, and
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Manage Short-Term Editorial Planning
The quality of the news that comes out of the radio depends heavily on the quality of preparation that went into it. While it might seem that stories begin at the moment of “assignment,” in fact they develop through a sophisticated process involving several news support systems: Story idea cultivation Storage and retrieval of news
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Control for Quality Assurance
Quality is essential in news work. It is synonymous with accuracy and fairness. It implies smart story selection and masterful crafting. It depends on people and systems. A News Director assures quality by Defining excellence Practicing excellence Monitoring excellence How Do We Define Excellence? We start by talking about it. In meetings, in offices, at
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Establish Beats and Desks
Beats and desks are organizational structures for larger newsrooms. Beats apply to reporters. Desks apply to groups of reporters. Beats The beat system is an effective way to organize your newsroom so that individual reporters can focus on a specialty. Ideally the beat system allows you to divide your team in a way that all
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Set Up a Staff Schedule
In some roles, scheduling flexibility is helpful and perhaps necessary. Reporters, for instance, may need to adjust to early-morning events or late-evening events. In other roles, scheduling rigidity is essential. Anchors and hosts, for instance, need to be at their assigned posts in time to prepare and deliver the news according to the clock.
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Establish a System for Contacts
Time is always of the essence in news. Having a well-organized directory of sources, information officers and other contacts is key to saving time. Certainly the power of internet search engines has drastically increased your power to find experts anywhere in the world, but you will still want to have your own in-house system of
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Manage a System for Community Relations
News Directors are accountable to the community they serve. This can create tension because sometimes the needs of the “target radio audience” are separate from the needs of the general population.
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Manage A System for Budgeting
Your newsroom budget is the single most powerful tool in managing the allocation of newsroom resources. It reflects what you can afford in human resources, technical advantages, training and mobility. It is imperative that you plan accurately for your future needs and that you track your progress and account for unforeseen circumstances.
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Use the Four Tiers of News Coverage
Before leaving NPR News, program executive Jay Kernis offered “The Four Tiers of News Coverage” — a simple hierarchy for defining news values when making local assignments.
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Manage Long-Term Editorial Planning
News Directors often have their hands full dealing with short range or daily planning. Yet, one of the higher orders of the job is to manage for the long-term editorial direction of the news department. Long-term editorial planning is a system by which you indentify and prioritize the largest issues facing your community. Then you
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Frame Your Story
Framing stories is a way of defining their outer contours so that they go far enough to be complete and as relevant as possible. News stories are not documentaries; they don’t aim to be the definitive word on a large subject. However, they can go just far enough to make sure important questions are answered.
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Focus Your Story
Think of yourself as a marksman. Your rifle is your radio station. Your bullet is your story — speeding through the air. Your target is the listener’s ear. A direct hit for you is successful communication. There’s nothing random about it. In radio, you only get one shot. Before you pull the broadcast trigger, set
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Deal with Difficult Employees
“Difficult” is a label we don’t actually use on our employees. We label the behavior, not the person. For specific examples of problem behaviors and some customized responses, see How-To’s → Handle Difficult Behaviors What follows is a series of general measures that will help you manage the troublesome behaviors of people you supervise. Be
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Establish a Crisis Coverage Plan
All radio newsrooms should prepare for how they will work during an emergency. It should go without saying that radio is crucial to the public welfare during a crisis and you’ll need to give an all-out effort in providing timely, accurate information and assistance. Moreover, as a news department during a crisis, you will either
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Develop Employees
News people are “knowledge workers” who will grow in value to your station as they grow in knowledge, skill and experience. As a News Director, you play a vital role in helping your staff to grow. Remember, this isn’t about reward (or punishment). It’s about making the most of your company’s investment. Besides, every employee
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Hire Employees
Hiring is one of the most important processes you manage. By selecting the right person at the right time, you add immeasurably to your public service. Successful hiring requires effort long before and long after the hiring handshake. Of course, you’ll need to work within the policy framework of your human resources department and/or your
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Improve Your Delivery
News Directors may be the ones to coach their personnel toward more effective on-air delivery. The basics every ND should know: How to Hear and Analyze Delivery How to Address Deficits How to Encourage Good Habits How to Promote Individual Styles Hear and Analyze Delivery Start by knowing the variables affecting delivery. You could sort
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Do a ‘Sound Edit’
This is a simple but powerful technique to help you tell better stories. Use it after all facts and audio are gathered for a feature, but before writing the script. After gathering all audio for the feature, isolate or “pull” your preferred actualities. Using your audio editing software, arrange the bites in the sequence you
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Increase Story Impact
News Directors can lead routine processes that lend extra impact to any story worth the effort. Increased impact, in this case, means creating greater awareness of the story and increased likelihood the audience will receive the story. Trigger any or all of the following procedures as soon as the reporting work is done. Begin On-Air
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Schedule Employees
Scheduling is a basic function of management. While most employees come to expect rather fixed schedules, newsroom employees may not. After all, the nature of news defies predictability and convenience. For reporters, scheduling flexibility is helpful and necessary. Reporters may need to adjust to early-morning events, or nighttime meetings, or weekend breaking news. For anchors,
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Pitch Stories
The story pitch process requires at least two individuals, the person pitching the story idea and the person vetting it. When a pitch is vetted and approved it can become an assignment. When a reporter pitches a story, he or she usually has done enough research to say what the central focus is. To be
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Manage Meetings
News Directors are hinged to many activities at their stations, and that means they need to attend meetings. The trick is to make keep those meetings necessary and effective, focused and controlled. Well-structured meetings are extremely helpful in accomplishing goals. Group meetings provide a good format for sharing, discussion and consensus. Private meetings are indispensible
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Manage Network Story Assignments
Ideally, you’d see it as part of your mission to file stories with NPR, Marketplace or other national or regional networks on your air. There are many positive benefits in it: your station receives wider audience recognition, your station’s work is credentialed as network quality, your newsroom grows its editorial linkages with the network, your
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Manage Your Time
Time management is critical if you are to be effective in your job and maintain a balanced life. To make your time management systematic, you will need a calendar-based organizer (paper or electronic). You should stick to ONE organizer for all your needs, professional and personal. Your organizer should include (or connect with) An ongoing
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Handle Difficult Behaviors
In a training session by the Poynter Institute, PRNDI managers were given a set of techniques for dealing with different types of behaviors one would consider “difficult” or “negative.”Here are links to the worksheets used. Each sheet provides “tools and techniques.” (Below each link are hints of the content covered by that worksheet.) Managing Behaviors
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Plot the Interest-Importance of a Story
Ultimately, the value of your news is defined by the subjective experience of the listener. One listener may value highly a story that another listener finds irrelevant. Your challenge, in general, is to identify and shape stories that have the highest likelihood of providing the broadest and deepest relevance to any random listener. Determining what
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When YOU’RE the News Department
The success of the NPR system has brought greater investment in local newsrooms. In turn, the number of one-person public radio news departments has declined. This is a positive trend because adding staff adds capacity and sustainability, and greater depth, quality and consistency. Still, the one-person newsroom remains a reality in the public radio system.
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What is My Newsroom Culture?
Whether you actively manage the “culture” of your newsroom, it does have one. We encourage you to think about it, talk about it and steer it.
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Balancing Spots and Features
Issue: News departments (always striving with limited resources) continually face a choice between pursuing news in spot form or feature form. How are these choices best reconciled? PRNDG Perspective: In an ideal world, your newsroom would provide both short stories (the spots) and long stories (the features) — just as NPR does everyday. The short
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The ND’s Role in Programming
News is both content and programming. As such, both news directors and program directors have a say in it. But how do we distinguish where the role of the news director ends and the job of the program director begins? Program Directors have primary responsibility for programming the radio station. They have authority over the
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Making the Case for Training
Some News Directors encounter resistance when they bring up the need for training in their department. It behooves the ND to find out why. If you give up on training, you give up on your staff, your craft, your station and your audience.
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When Upper Management Wants to Call the Shots
Good bosses don’t do their employees’ work for them. They state expectations, give employees what’s needed and step back to let employees succeed. That’s the ideal. The boss of a News Director has a special challenge. The boss will wish to honor professional journalistic norms that insulate the ND from the business and corporate aspects
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Making the Case for Original Reporting
As professional journalists, we know the value of original reporting. We know there is no substitute for having our own evidence upon which to proceed. We know that what we see with our own eyes can be of immense value to the people we serve. We know that when our reporters come back with original
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High Aspirations and Low Resources
All newsrooms have limits to their resources. There are only so many journalists, only so many dollars, only so many hours, etc. In this relative way, we all begin at the same place. We all need more resources because we all see so much more to be done. The idea then is to operate on
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Funding the Newsroom
What should be the News Director’s role in helping to raise money for news purposes? News Directors and those involved in news owe their first obligation to the public. After all, they promise to serve the public good and keep the trust. However, our journalism is only manifest via an economic process. In public radio,
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Cultivating Excellent Stationwide Relations
News Directors should not confuse the “editorial firewall” with a “psychic barrier” that can isolate the news department from the rest of the station. Independence is a key ingredient in editorial decision-making, but interdependence is the key to excellent station relations. That takes communication and understanding. News Directors are wise to build personal-professional relationships with
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Jay Allison’s Tips for Gathering Tape in the Field
Jay Allison is a much admired independent radio producer. Among his honors are PRNDI’s Leo C. Lee Award and the CPB’s Edward R. Murrow Award. These tips were originally published online by AIR. Note: Although many of these notes apply to any interview situation, they focus on talking to people in their own environment, people