The Leadership Programme performs a number of functions: research into the field of journalism, degree programs for journalists, journalistic training and consulting for newsrooms. For example, the programme, has been working with editors at the UK regional publisher, Johnston Press, helping the group to clarify its digital strategies while simultaneously training editors in strategy and conceptual skills. The fact that the programme was developed within a business school allows it to take a critical, analytical perspective when studying newsrooms instead of a broad, reflective view.   

Part of Nel’s work is studying how the rules of the newsrooms have changed: “The rules are no longer just about how we do our jobs, they’re about what our job is.” What he is referring to is the dynamic between the newsroom and its readers. “We are used to saying that we are in the communication business but that business suggests a flow of information that goes two ways. We have forever focused on lecturing. The shift is, we should be looking at what we do as a conversation. We shouldn’t be entranced by our own voice. Basic communication means you listen as much as you speak.”

Nel thinks that newsrooms are embracing digital technology and integrated newsrooms with gusto. But there remains a large problem: they view these changes as new means of pushing out more information instead of engaging in the two-way flow of information. Newsrooms need to realize that they are no longer the gatekeepers of information and begin, for instance, following chat groups and forums, speaking directly with readers while finding new leads and story ideas.   

Of course, with all of the chats, forums, and readers commenting on articles, the amount of dialogue can be overbearing. Nel suggests that journalists learn how to efficiently filter this information with technologies provided in email programs and especially RSS feeds.

Another huge impact that the digital revolution is having on newsrooms is content: it’s not only produced by journalists anymore. But they do play an important role in filtering consumer content. Taking the Virginia Polytechnic University massacres as an example, Nel pointed to the videos taken by students with their camera phones and their reactions posted on blogs: “The newsmaker now also becomes a storyteller. The students in this situation became reporters by sharing their personal accounts on their blogs and capturing images that wouldn’t have otherwise been possible. Journalists now gather this information, find the best and continue the dialogue.”

Because news is becoming a dialogue, the conversation is never-ending. “The news doesn’t start with the morning paper and end with the nightly broadcast,” says Nel. “News organizations tend to look at the news in a linear fashion. It has always been easy to have a conversation with your audience, people with whom you may never speak to again. But suddenly when you realize that you not only have to speak to them, but hear them as well, and that they’ll respond to you tomorrow about a different topic, that changes the way in which journalists work.”

In Cape Town, Nel will also discuss the ways in which the concepts of transparency and trust are morphing in the relationship between the news provider and consumer. He will talk about how transparency is not merely a state of being, but an approach that journalists and other professionals take in opening up to the public, letting them know how they come to the conclusions that they do. In speaking about trust, he will point to how many consumers have lost faith in the mainstream media arguing that the trust that they’ve lost is two fold: their reliability provide the best information and capacity to deliver what they promise.

Francois Nel will be talking during the 14th World Editors Forum’s eight session entitled “Balancing ethics, transparency and independence in the newsroom.” Join him and many more in Cape Town, June 3-6, 2007.