Still A Newspaperman

The tough times in the newspaper industry have put unprecedented stress on newsroom staffs – and on editors.

There are few metro-size newspapers in the country that haven’t had to endure for weeks the black-cloud of looming buyouts and layoffs, before the sword actually falls.

How can an editor maintain any semblance of morale, retain the focus on good journalism and deal with the stress of colleagues and friends under such circumstances?

And the pain continues after the departed are sent packing.

For those eventually let go, the stress moves from the workplace to home and family.

But there is enormous stress on the survivors, too. There always is a sense of guilt – “why him not me?” A sense of dread – “if they let her go now, how long before I’m selected?” And fear about new assignments and workloads – “with all of these people gone am I going to have to work more hours on top of my current killer schedule?” And “will my new assignment be one I want or one I hate and for which I’m only minimally qualified?”

Those concerns are hard enough on editors. But all of us know that we are probably the least secure people in any newsroom. We serve at the pleasure of publishers whose vision of the future may well conflict with our own. Most of us know we’re one heated argument away from the “resignation to pursue other interests.” Many editors have drawn their own line in the sand, “this far and no more.” Increasingly those editors have had to face that line and decide if they really mean it. Many did mean it and are gone.

At a recent professional meeting, the gallows humor among editors included the half-joking fear that there are not enough university chairs and professorships for all of the editors looking for work.

I certainly don’t have a solution to solve all of the black-cloud problems.

In my newsroom, I try to keep us focused on the values of our craft. If we can stay focused on the call that brought us to journalism and newspapers, if we can still produce journalism that helps our community, casts light in dark corners and speaks up for the disenfranchised, then it might be possible to keep the rest of the noise somewhere in the background.

We have a written set of values at the SR against which we try to measure our journalism. Staying true to those values gives our professional lives meaning and purpose even when the walls are crumbling around us. And staying true to the values also gives us our clear line in the sand. The day our journalism cannot reflect those values is the day we move somewhere else, or maybe out of the business altogether.

When we hold staff meetings to deal with the current economic crisis, we talk about value-driven journalism, we reinforce for ourselves the calling that led us to this place at this time and we remind ourselves of the impact our journalism can have on our communities and the people we serve. It doesn’t eliminate the stresses, but it might help some of us keep them in perspective.

For anyone who is curious, here are my newspaper’s written values, included in the forward to our code of ethics:

• We are committed to the free marketplace of ideas.

• We believe the public’s business ought to be conducted in public — always. We will advocate open meetings and open records and will hold government accountable for actions that keep essential information from the public.

• We give voice to the voiceless and defend the defenseless, recognizing the unique role the newspaper can play in representing the interests of individuals and groups that don’t always have a place at the public’s table.

• We recognize the positive lives led by our community’s young people every day. Young people should be reflected in our paper in ways that recognize they are more than victims or perpetrators of crime.

• We empower people so that they can exercise their duties in a self-governing society. We provide the essential information they need to vote with intelligence and to interact with government.

• We will do good, not just good work. We understand that our first responsibility is to the communities we serve. We won’t produce journalism to win professional contests, but to serve the public.

If I can look myself in the mirror and say honestly that these values are still achievable, I give myself reason to keep up the fight.

steve

Tags: editors, journalism, journalism values, newspaper downsizing, newspaper layoffs, newspapers

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 at 3:20 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.