Month: June 2019

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Two years of bringing media leaders together – this is what I learned

For two years I’ve been in charge of the leadership programmes at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, a home for those who care deeply about journalism and its role in democracy. Listening to and conversing with media leaders and committed journalists from all over the world has shed new light on many issues I had felt so certain about, after having been a journalist for more than 25 years, 15 of these in leadership roles. This is what I learned:

  • First, tech is seductive, but it will always be always about people. Senior editors and managers often came to us curious about the latest tools, and the developments in data and tech. But these challenges are manageable. What puzzled editors most were the seemingly mundane things: how to communicate with your newsroom, how to prevent your staff from burning out, how to retain talent, how to create a culture that embraces the adventurous journey of digital transformation while preserving the core of why everyone joined the profession — doing great journalism. There are no fool-proof recipes for this, no miracle tools. But a lot of listening and sharing best-practice helps.  
  • Second, trust is a difficult matter. Who doesn’t complain about diminishing trust in the digital age? All institutions suffer from it, the media included. In previous decades, people would just read the newspaper or listen to the evening news and trust them, journalists complain. But was this a good thing? Of course, earning trust today is much harder work. Audiences can resort to more sources, compare quality, call things into question, and they also have the means for immediate feedback. This can be a pain for resource-stretched newsrooms. But it is also a call to focus on the basics — focusing on quality, explaining how journalism works, and engaging with those whom the news is published for. Healthy scepticism within the citizenry is an indicator of media literacy and democratic freedom. By the way, some authoritarian regimes rank highly in trust– but it is often born out of fear.   
  • Third, journalism is a consumer good and a public good. This makes the business of selling journalism messy. In pretty much every industry the willingness to pay is 100 percent. Whether it is the bakery, the clothing store, or the hotel, there is one rule — no money, no product. Meanwhile, willingness to pay for digital news is on average only 14 percent according to the 2018 Digital News Report. There is an abundance of free news to choose from, so consumers need reasons to shell out funds for journalism. And in contrast to popular assumptions, micropayments for single pieces of content are not it. When audiences pay, they do it for experiences, for the expectation of quality, for purpose. Those who want to sell their journalism have to tick at least one of these boxes. Some journalism is also a public good in the service of democracy after all, public service media must provide it. 
  • Fourth, newsroom leaders better learn how to lead diversity, because running a successful newsroom is about the culture. The diversity of newsrooms is an increasingly major concern for today’s newsroom leaders, at least this is what they say. And they have a point: newsrooms are too male, too white (in the West), too homogenous politically, too urban, and too academic, thus too far removed from the reality of many of the people they serve (the Reuters Institute and the University of Mainz will publish a study on this on July 2, 2019). But hiring diverse talent, as challenging as it might be, is only the first step. For diverse talent to flourish and have an impact, it needs real and active support. Continue with the old routines, hierarchies and practices, and diverse candidates will either hyper-conform or opt out. The impact of this kind of “diversity” is zero. Women or minorities choose the news differently when given enough voice. You’d better listen. 
  • Fifth, journalism has become more of a craft than an art. But it can’t do without some great artists. Newsrooms used to center around a bunch of reporters and editors, the rest was supporting staff. They attracted big and vulnerable egos, many narcissists and some others who tagged along but could be easily replaced. This doesn’t work in an environment where journalists, product developers, data scientists, marketing experts and many more have to work in teams that produce great and commercially successful journalism. A great product is no longer the achievement of a lone star player but of many hands. Some egos have to restrain themselves, which makes digital transformation particularly hard in old-style TV environments. On the other hand, successful journalism can also be built around single expert journalists who become brands. They run events, publish newsletters, go on cruise ships. Every newsroom profits from a few stars, but none can run without plenty of craftspeople.
  • Sixth, too much of journalism is dominated by a Western worldview. As in every industry, there is a huge conference circuit around journalism where the same individuals meet over and over again in different settings. And it is heavily dominated by American and European participants. Certainly, some stars from the Global South are welcome guests and admired speakers, if only to remind the others that in many parts of the world journalism is a profession that requires more human sacrifices than making below-than-average money and being harassed on social media. But the debates are still very much framed through the Western lens. It doesn’t help that powerful American platform companies, mostly Facebook and Google, shape plenty of the issues at stake (and finance many conferences — as their Chinese counterparts do on the other side of the globe). Developing sustainable business models, research and fact-checking tools and support networks for journalist safety are even more important for newsrooms in the Global South. They face some of the same but also very different battles to save journalism in the digital age.   
  • Seventh, there will be plenty of AI in journalism, but there will be no journalism without journalists. Rejecting artificial intelligence for the sake of journalism jobs is wrong. There are already plenty of examples of ways that AI can improve products, help sell subscriptions and free newsroom talent from tedious tasks that consume energy which should go toward great journalism. AI can be used to analyze data and point to stories that we may not have noticed before, it monitors audience behaviour and identifies what people care about. Nevertheless, journalism will always thrive on dedicated, committed, sometimes inspiring journalists who are in it for a cause. This is what makes our industry so special.  

This column was published by NewsMavens on June 16, 2019

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Leadership matters, men matter, but culture matters even more

Why the BBC’s 50:50 initiative has been a success.

It could have been a reporter’s feast, that BBC Director General Tony Hall turned up with a black eye when he opened the BBC’s 50:50 project celebration. This is an initiative that has been successful in bringing up “female” content in many of the participating programs above the magical 50-percent-line, and it has been joined by prestigious national and international media organizations.

But exploiting Hall’s injury from a minor weekend accident as a telling image for scars acquired in the battle of the sexes would have completely missed the point. Because the strength of the 50:50 project, as participants tell you, has been the spirit of friendly competition. Everything was voluntary, no quotas, no obligations, no shaming. And the initiator was a man. 

The impressive statistics are all written down in the project report. More than 500 teams signed up. Out of the teams that were running for twelve months or more, three out of four (74 percent) had reached 50 percent of female representation. And the endeavor supplied insights that are not incredibly surprising for those who know a thing or two about leadership and gender equality. But they are so much more convincing when proven and felt in real life. 

First, it’s actually not that hard to get female experts and contributors. It just needs to be given the proper priority. Even in sports progress is possible. And the project challenged other assumptions, for example, that there were no women heavyweights to go on air in the Arab world. Surprise, surprise, there are plenty. This should have been expected, given that girls excel in schools and universities all over the globe once they are given the opportunity. But to see it and hear it is a different matter altogether.

Second, leadership matters. It did matter a lot that Director General Tony Hall got fired up about the project. Because who wants to disappoint their top leadership instead of impressing them? What he loved about it, he said, was that there was a big idea and someone would simply go for it. Not regard representation of society as an aspiration, but as something that can be done and achieved step-by-step in the daily works.

Third, experiments matter. It’s convenient to declare something impossible and get on with life or wait for some regulation to happen. But how does one know it wouldn’t work if one hasn’t even tried? Experiments can be fun, too, particularly if they are small scale and there is little to lose but everything to gain from the momentum they create. The fact that this project was voluntary, created all the conditions for a great experiment. Just the goal was carved in stone, achieve this by April 30, 2019. And once experiments work, they can be shared as best-practice examples across the whole industry. The BBC can be proud of being a pace-setter.  

Fourth, men matter. Nobody would have said this aloud, and in fact, women took the lead in many teams all over the place. But that popular anchor Ros Atkins was the front man of the 50:50 effort killed all the suspicions that this was just another feminist thing by women who are in it for their own careers (yes, many women have encountered hidden accusations of this sort). Finding male allies is a powerful strategy to getting things done.

Fifth, representation matters, and it’s all about cultural change. Many media organizations are aware of the fact these days that they can’t pursue business as usual if they want to (re)gain the trust of their audiences. The media has been representing the few and catered to for few way too long. The current crisis of journalism is not only one of business models, it is also a crisis of representation. Many top leaders in the industry are aware of this. Now it is time to get into the doing.

This text was published by NewsMavens on May 16, 2019

           

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Do you really have to be a brand? Don’t worry, some of the best leaders aren’t

Social media news feeds constantly tout the necessity of turning ourselves into a brand but if we don’t want to can there still be an upside? 

Women in particular are often asked to position themselves as brands. We are told that this will enable us to circumvent the hierarchies and glass ceilings that have prevented women from rising to power for so long. But is self-branding really an essential need in our digital work-life? And more importantly, what does it do to leadership?

Not much good, actually, if you consult the evidence. Presumably being a brand helps to inspire people. And it definitely helps find  a new job. But it doesn’t make you an outstanding boss. All kinds of studies show that a certain modesty and humility are the most important traits in successful leaders. Putting one’s ego behind a greater cause is much more significant for getting things done than charisma. Excellent leadership is about helping others grow, not about growing one’s self.

The irony is that many women are pretty good at helping others grow, because a whole lot of caring expectation is written into the scripts of their lives. And now we tell them to turn themselves into brands instead. Brands that convey caring qualities if necessary, but brands nonetheless.

When you think about this, turning people into brands means they become yet another commodity that is tradeable on the competitive market. It fully subordinates humans to capitalism. This comes at a loss for society. Because while there is no shortage of brands in capitalism, there is a definite shortage of care. In her book “Unfinished Business” (Random House 2016) Anne-Marie Slaughter described the tension between competition and care as one of the most challenging issues capitalist societies must solve.

This is no call to make women invisible again. We definitely have the right to develop ourselves into brands, and those who thrive on such tasks shpuld by all means pursue them. But a society where everyone is a commodity is a frightening concept. Humanity has prospered exactly because throughout history qualities like communication, collaboration and care have again and again triumphed over cutthroat competition. Progress has so often succeeded only because pride and egos were put aside. 

One step towards a more positive change is to help men develop their caring qualities, so that  respective responsibilities could be distributed more evenly between the sexes. Having plenty of caring men and women in charge would make for better workplaces, too. One reason leadership has fallen short of conforming to the ideal for decades is that there is too much branding and too little care in the C suite and below.

Also, brand-building consumes a lot of energy. If some of this energy was invested into people management instead, many organizations would be better places to work. So, if self-promotion is not your thing, just remember — many fabulous leaders have never been brands. 

This text was published by NewsMavens on May 16, 2019.