In addition to cultural competency with different communities, these highly effective reporters also manage the challenges of life inside stressed and stressful newsrooms.
That navigation includes finding “tribes” of like-minded colleagues in all departments and helping to build bridges among those tribes; and when confronted with problems, finding constructive solutions rather than spending energy venting.
From an individual standpoint, affiliating with those tribes helps to “balance out the bad actors,” as one reporter said, who are impediments or distractions. From a workflow standpoint, a tribe that spans the news organization — from advertising and marketing to circulation and finance — can be a facilitator to problem-solving. These journalists recognize that getting a solution to an internal problem doesn’t simply involve complaining: It’s reaching the person who can actually do something about the problem.
Their deeper understanding of the newsroom culture also means these reporters often have the disposition to connect the various tribes. Stephanie Arnold said she gradually introduces reporters to new platforms, offering practical advice such as “Don’t use all the platforms at the same time” and “Don’t try new platforms on deadline.”
Clinton Yates explained how he works with more traditional journalists to get them to embrace new tools and responsibilities such as social media: He tells them how he played football, soccer and basketball as a student, and participating in each sport helped him grow as an athlete.
Likewise, he said, being skilled in many new facets of journalism also leads to better performance.
Why this characteristic is important in accountability journalism: Productive newsroom conversations are essential, says Kaiser. “In too many newsrooms journalists can spend too much time talking about things they can not control. The best journalists talk journalism with their colleagues. They talk about the best stories and what made them the best stories. They engage colleagues to critique their work and help them find ways to strengthen it.”
| Percent | |
|---|---|
| Eagerly adapt to new technologies |
18.2% |
| Spend time building relationships |
27.3% |
| Work to create context for audiences |
27.3% |
| Direct their own work |
18.2% |
| Smartly balance their time |
9.1% |
Data Source: Answers from our group of 17 accountability reporters.
American Press Institute
Share with your network
- 7 characteristics of effective accountability journalists
- Effective accountability journalists exhibit broad curiosity and eagerly adapt to new technologies and platforms
- Effective accountability journalists think about multiple audiences
- Effective accountability journalists work hard to create context for their audiences
- Effective accountability journalists smartly balance their time on story choices, audience interaction
- Effective accountability journalists spend considerable time building relationships with sources and readers
- Effective accountability journalists build connections and teamwork within their own newsrooms
- Effective accountability journalists find their own way and direct their own work
- Looking ahead: Some questions to start a newsroom conversation on improving accountability efforts
- Acknowledgments
You also might be interested in:
The press will be much more effective in serving people and strengthening democracy if it learns from what researchers are learning. Among the examples and takeaways, you will find that news leaders and non-news experts alike value the opportunity to think differently about the challenges in front of them, about how local news can change and how research can ask different questions.
When community members are no longer voters, their needs become diffuse once again and there is no clear, focusing mandate. So many newsrooms slip back into the usual: politics coverage driven by politicians and press releases. How do we avoid that backslide?
How can we avoid that backslide this time?
We see in research how trusted messengers matter for news that’s shared. We know Millennials and Gen Z pay for or donate to support email newsletters or video or audio from independent creators at higher rates than newspapers.
