| Skill | % saying “very important” |
|---|---|
| Ethics | 84.4% |
| Writing | 84.2% |
| Subject matter expertise | 58.0% |
| Leadership and team management | 54.4% |
| Newsgathering / reporting / interviewing | 52.5% |
| Social media | 47.5% |
| Career development / job-seeking | 46.2% |
| Marketing content in new ways | 43.7% |
| Audio recording and storytelling | 35.3% |
| Fluency with data and numbers | 34.9% |
| Understanding best practices of other organizations | 33.7% |
| Entrepreneurial skills | 33.4% |
| Investigative reporting | 32.0% |
| Audience / consumer research | 31.6% |
| Fluency with the business of media | 26.3% |
| Audience data and metrics | 26.0% |
| Video shooting and editing | 26.0% |
| Media law | 24.6% |
| Data visualization and chart-making | 22.0% |
| Still photography | 19.5% |
| Graphics and web design | 18.0% |
| Coding languages | 5.4% |
| Computer science/theory of web | 3.6% |
JOURNO38: Importance of skills
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About the Author: Jeff Sonderman
Jeff Sonderman is the former deputy executive director of the American Press Institute.
Before joining the American Press Institute in 2013, he was the digital media fellow of The Poynter Institute. His earlier journalism background includes digital news — helping to launch TBD.com, a local digital news startup in Washington, D.C. — and various roles in newspapers, as an award-winning reporter, online editor and metro editor of The Times-Tribune in Scranton, Pa. He was the architect and developer of API's Metrics for News analytics software that reinvents how publishers use data to inform content strategy. He also edited API's Need to Know newsletter, and designed API's Strategy Studies research format for in-depth strategic guidance. And he consulted with publishers on a range of issues related to content strategy, organizational transformation, audience development, newsroom structure and workflows and product management. He graduated from the Missouri School of Journalism.
