"We have a model of leadership that's set up for a static industry, and right now we're in a very dynamic and changing one," says McLellan. “News, Improved” suggests a solution: strategic training, training that educates entire staffs toward specific goals while carefully measuring success and failure.

In 2002, a Knight survey of journalists found that eight in 10 journalists wanted more training than they were getting; now, the number has increased to nine in 10. The new survey also shows that journalists want specific, practical training, such as sessions on how to use multimedia storytelling tools. They also prefer training to occur outside the newsroom.

"The news industry trains people as badly as a fast-food diet nourishes them," the authors write. "Training is episodic rather than continuous. Random, rather than strategic. Long on talk. Short on measurable impact."

For the past four years, Knight has funded the Newsroom Training Initiative, consisting of six specific training programs including one online distance-learning project.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2004 partnered with McLellan, who worked with newsroom leaders to produce a clear training strategy to make the paper “more engaging.” They came up with three clear goals: improve watchdog reporting, enhance the culture in the newsroom, and reduce the use of traditional news story format.

The staff underwent training as a group and within a year had increased the number of nontraditional stories on the front page from 33 to 57 percent. “News, Improved” resonates with optimism that other news organizations can accomplish similar goals with improved training.

Source: Poynter Online