Columns

Joy and camaraderie will power ASNE's future

Charlotte Hall is editor of the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel and the 2008-09 president of the American Society of News Editors. Reach her via email at chall@orlandosentinel.com.

I FELL HARD FOR ASNE at my first convention in 1997. No doubt about it, it was love at first sight.

The convention was a heady - and somewhat intimidating - experience. For a newly minted managing editor, ASNE represented the big boys, the icons of our craft. And the president spoke - yes, president of the United States! All of a sudden, I felt important.

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Battling on the front lines to save community

Charlotte Hall is editor of the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel and the president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Reach her via e-mail at chall@orlandosentinel.com.

MEMORIES WASHED OVER ME AS I studied The New York Times photo of a small Connecticut newsroom. There, seated at a cluttered desk, was Bill Sarno. I flashed back 37 years to the newsroom of the weekly Paramus (N.J.) Post. I was putting the paper together, and Bill Sarno was writing editorials in a small, cluttered office. He was my boss. He was also my friend.

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In the face of fear, go home to journalism

Charlotte Hall is editor of the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel and the president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Reach her via e-mail at chall@orlandosentinel.com.

WE HAVE JUST PASSED THROUGH the summer of our discontent. The center is not holding. How many of us lie awake at night agonizing about laying off talented journalists? How many of us cringe as we cut news hole and worry readers will desert us? How many of us are getting really scared about losing journalism?

This is not going to be a column about business conditions. We all know the business model needs fixing. I'm tired of that talk — and of listening to those who would write us off, though they haven't found a business model to support journalism either.

What I want to talk about is healing newsrooms and reigniting journalism.

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Thinking about the newspaper for a change

Charlotte Hall is editor of the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel and the president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Reach her via e-mail at chall@orlandosentinel.com.

I HAVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT newspapers lately. That sounds like a big “duh,” but in our current economic distress I wonder if we are thinking too little about our newspapers.

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Five tips for new editors to make a big difference

Mark Zieman is president and publisher of The Kansas City (Mo.) Star. Reach him at zieman@kcstar.com

LET'S BE FRANK: YOU WON'T win every fight with your publisher. You won't get every dollar you need or fill every job. Your latest online widget might not attract the audience you hoped. Even your friends and neighbors will at times be hurt or alarmed at the news you have to publish to fairly reflect your community and fully inform your readers.

So what's an editor to do? After 11 years, here's what I've learned. Maybe these lessons can help you each day as you tackle the truly heroic job of leading your newsrooms:

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Leadership matters more than ever

Gilbert Bailon is the Editorial page editor at the St.Louis Post-Dispatch and the President of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

A YEAR AGO, I EMBRACED the theme of “Transforming Leaders” as I became ASNE president.

What a year of transformation. The depth and pace of change has outstripped what most informed decision-makers in our business foresaw last spring.

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It's time to drop the idea of "going it alone"

Mark Zieman is editor and vice president of The Kansas City (Mo.) Star. Reach him at zieman@kcstar.com

ON A SUMMER MORNING IN 1930, A.D. Payne told his wife he felt like walking to work at his law office in Amarillo, Texas. He told her to drive his car that day for family errands.

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Dues and conferences pay dividends in tough times

Gilbert Bailon is editorial page editor at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the 2007-08 president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

STOP. TAKE A BREATH.

Think before you whack those dollars in your newsroom budget for association dues, industry conferences and training. Those lambs often are the first to slaughter when the budget noose tightens.

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Finding a useable feast in a newspaper's past

Mark Zieman is editor and vice president of The Kansas City (Mo.) Star and will be writing a column for The American Editor this year. Reach him at zieman@kcstar.com

FACED WITH DAILY PROPHECIES of doom, editors today are searching for answers.

Some turn to traditional sources for comfort – facts and figures gleaned from the latest Newspaper Association of America reports or guidance from the Wise offered through ASNE or the American Press Institute. Others seek new prophets, finding hope in a future created by Google or "Web 3.0," citizen journalists or private ownership. And some sit muttering in the dark, gnawing on Wall Street estimates, tuned into the blogosphere, pining for just three more FTEs.

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Take a thoughtful approach when covering immigration

Gilbert Bailon, editorial page editor, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, is 2007-08 president of ASNE.

ASIDE FROM TRAVEL THAT TESTS one's patience, from screaming infants to interminable airport security lines, sojourns as the ASNE president also help to draw a bead on trends across the country.

Listening and speaking in assorted venues over the last few months has vividly drawn a trend into sharp focus: Illegal immigration and an increasing Hispanic populace are fueling cultural volatility and creating divisions that seem to grow deeper each day.

It is ironic that, in a country with centuries of Hispanic interdependence, we're amid an epoch in which Latinos are viewed as late interlopers or invaders into U.S. society. Latinos are more numerous and influential in the United States than ever, yet cultural and language disconnections fray potential cohesion and cross-cultural understanding.

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Encouraging signposts on the road to change

Online audience counts; more readers seek content

Gilbert Bailon, publisher and editor of Al Día, Dallas, is 2007-08 president of ASNE.

PERVASIVENESS OF CHANGE WITHIN OUR INDUSTRY can create feelings of humility, helplessness and instability.

“Just when I got adjusted to the latest wave of change and then right around the corner … BAM,” we mutter to ourselves.

Two recent developments, however, bode well for our ability to change and capitalize on what we do best.

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‘Cue the sun!’

Mark Zieman is editor and vice president of The Kansas City (Mo.) Star and writes a regular column for The American Editor. Reach him at zieman@kcstar.com.

YEARS AGO I LEARNED AN AWFUL TRUTH about my journalism skills: I can’t sell newspapers.

I don’t mean literally, although that’s also true. Once, senior Kansas City Star executives challenged our circulation canvassers to a sales contest. We were convinced that our passion and expertise could trump their generic pitch, which I believed relied too heavily on touting our advertising coupons and NFL Chiefs coverage. The result? Our passion and expertise generated two sales. Their pitch: 42. And we even worked the same neighborhood.

But what really pained me was my inability to sell papers through content. I was dismayed to learn that a series we had invested two years in, which had won the Pulitzer Prize, generated no extra copies the week it ran. In fact, circulation went down.

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The truth, a mine shaft and a rescue drill collide

Mark Zieman is editor and vice president of The Kansas City (Mo.) Star.

Last year, The Kansas City (MO.) Star warily welcomed our third owner in 10 years. While McClatchy was by all accounts a respected newspaper company, our nerves were still a bit shot.

An investor we had never heard of had emerged from Florida to checkmate our old employer in just 13 days – from the time Bruce Sherman publicly urged Knight Ridder to sell the company until corporate officials conceded to an auction.

Only months after buying us, McClatchy sold off its largest newspaper, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, primarily because it had declined in value so sharply that they could garner a huge tax benefit to help pay down their debt.

Financially, it all made perfect sense. Yet nobody ever cheers when they hear that.

So early this year I decided it was time to address my staff. ...

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In this era of change, it's time to liberate yourself

Gilbert Bailon, 2007-08 ASNE president, is publisher and editor of the Spanish-language daily newspaper, Al Día in Dallas.

Reality now permeates the ASNE membership. And we are better for it.

As I attended ASNE’s annual convention in March, followed by our “Leading in a Transforming World” seminar at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in April, it became evident that our editors are embracing fundamental change caused by significant challenges.

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Finally, it's about good friends and good journalism

David A. Zeeck, 2006-07 ASNE president, is executive editor of The News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash.

I approach the end of my term as ASNE president with a mixture of gratitude and relief.

It’s a privilege to serve in a post like this, but I admit I look forward to having just one job again.

As the end of my term approaches, I find myself reflecting on the year. New friends and old ones come to mind. I think, too, of the many new newsrooms and cities I visited. But as I think back over the year, three lessons keep coming to mind. ...

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The role of a free press ignites passion of editor

David A. Zeeck, 2006-07 ASNE president, is executive editor of The News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash.

When we asked editors last fall what ASNE’s priorities should be they were clear.

They wanted help navigating toward the digital future, and they wanted ASNE to promote and defend the First Amendment.

While dealing with change — in news-gathering, in delivery, in competition — may drive the agenda for most of our workdays, I’ve found that it’s the role of a free press that really ignites the passions of editors, here and around the world. ...

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