Effecting a Successful Change in the Newsroom
Henrik Keith, former Editor-in-chief and Head of TV News, DR, Copenhagen, urges heads of newsrooms to be both a manager and leader in effecting change so that they are able to move effectively from the current state of affairs to a new future, one where a clear vision and strategy is defined and where the news people are actively engaged to ensure success in implementing the change.
Henrik Keith, former Editor-in-chief and Head of TV News, DR, Copenhagen, urges heads of newsrooms to be both a manager and leader in effecting change so that they are able to move effectively from the current state of affairs to a new future, one where a clear vision and strategy is defined and where the news people are actively engaged to ensure success in implementing the change.
“A news manager must have visionary and strategic skills in developing and preparing the newsroom meet the challenges in the modern media landscape, ensuring you interact closely with the staff in making them understand why change is necessary and their cooperation critical to attain small and big success,” Mr. Keith told participants to the AIBD/EBU/CCTV Master Class on “ Leading Change in the Newsroom” that began today in Bangkok.
The two-day workshop is one of the seven seminars and workshops lined up leading to the Asia Media Summit that will take place from 29-30 May 2012.
This Master Class is an internationally recognized primary training format developed by EBU TRAINING, that will provide learning points to help stimulate editors’ inspiration, boost their level of creativity, and provide them inputs to better grasp the workroom’s challenges and applicable solutions.
Some 30 news editors, producers and head of news departments from 16 countries are attending the two-day workshop.
In his presentation, Mr. Keith said oftentimes news managers focus more on the operational needs of the department, thinking they can lead by reflex. But this is not effective, he pointed out, as he reminded participants to allocate time to think strategically, take stock of the current state and formulate a vision and clear strategies for the future.
“ You don’t have to do it alone. You can set up a team of change agents to help formulate a vision and set of clear strategies,” he said.
He also advised them to communicate the vision and strategies to the staff regularly to influence staff behavior and effect change. By applying the see-feel-change model, which is more powerful than the analyze-think-change mechanism, he said, it is critical to talk to the heart of the staff and let them see and feel the importance of change you want.
