Everyone needs some outside counsel

Even news directors can benefit from a check-in

A routine phone conversation a few days ago led to this article. We were speaking with a longtime industry colleague about changes in the TV news business, particularly about the role of the news director in a television station’s newsroom. Almost as an aside, we lamented that networking among people in this specific job seems, at least to us, to have declined significantly in recent years.

We’ve been thinking about this ever since and have some observations about the situation.

One of the biggest realities is that the opportunities for television news managers to gather are fewer than ever. The collapse of the RTDNA’s annual convention would be the leading example of this argument. We’ve written before about this topic, so we won’t totally revisit it here. But there is little doubt that not having an annual meeting focused on broadcast news leaders from across the country has limited opportunities to share best practices and socialize.

And despite our best efforts to encourage more news directors to attend the annual NAB Show in Las Vegas, we didn’t see a sharp uptick in their attendance last April.

Is this a problem qualifying for “end of the world” status? Of course not, but it is a definite loss.

We’ve noticed that a number of news directors make the effort to attend other ongoing conferences. For some, this is a focused conference for groups of professional journalists, such as NABJ, NAHJ, NLGJA, etc. For others, the annual conferences of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) are events worth attending each year.

Those can certainly be opportunities to network and socialize, but they typically aren’t geared specifically towards newsroom leaders and the challenges they face.

Also worth pointing out is that with newsroom budgets being scrutinized and squeezed for every penny, the budget for travel and professional development is usually the first to be trimmed—or eliminated entirely.

With this shift has come a narrowing of opportunities to meet people outside the ownership group a news director happens to work for. We know that most groups have regular conference calls. But these weekly or monthly gatherings are mostly centered on the dispensing of policies or wisdom from corporate staff, rather than truly open forums.

Some groups do an annual in-person meeting that is part in-service training and part company pep rally. At least these kinds of events present some opportunity for more face-to-face interactions, both formal and informal. But there is zero opportunity to learn what might be working elsewhere or to commiserate over what isn’t working anywhere.

Plus, you can’t really “let your hair down” when your corporate bosses are in the same hotel meeting room for a couple of days.

Again, we are not suggesting here that this change has led to any serious deficiency in the local TV news business, just a loss of opportunity to make the lives of the people who lead these operations better, or even easier.

And dare we say the quiet part out loud: these jobs aren’t easy. Aside from leading the editorial charge each day, there are also the aspects of the position that require one to be an HR expert, a financial analyst, a logistics professional, a video critic, and a host of other roles that have seemingly little to do with, you know…the news.

Sometimes just venting is essential to retaining one’s perspective, if not overall mental health. And it’s nice to do so with someone who understands the demands of the job and has maybe worked through whatever crisis you might be dealing with on any given day.

This is why we think that any reduction in opportunities to network and build a broader circle of colleagues is a greater loss for the industry and the people called upon to lead it. We’ll add that this is our viewpoint, and as always, your mileage may vary. But in checking in with our own circle of newsroom denizens, we’re hearing the same sentiments expressed.

So here is a suggestion: reach out to a few colleagues in the next few days and check in on them. Ask how things are going, how they’re doing personally, and whether there’s anything — big or small — you can help with.

You’ll be surprised at how much it will be appreciated, and how much you’ll get out of the experience.

And if you don’t have anyone to do this exercise with, or if you want a new perspective, drop us an email at editor@tvnd.com. No charge, no catch. We’re always happy to talk about TV news — or, come to think of it, almost anything really.

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