It takes a lot of heavy lifting on a daily basis to install a news brand at your TV station.  You have to recognize all the sub-cultures at play in the newsroom.  Make no mistake - this process goes far beyond holding one newsroom meeting and expecting everyone to go forth and brand your newscast in a unique and valued style.

You must obtain buy-in - and understanding - from many factions that populate your newsroom.  Here's a look at the ones I have seen during this branding process over the years:

The Old Timers:  This is the “we've always done it this way” crowd.  Some have been at the station for many, many years - others just act as if they've been around that long.  These folks are stubborn, set in their ways, and believe you should just put news on the air and viewers will flock to your station.

The Skeptics:  This newsroom sub-culture runs rampant in most stations.  They don't trust anyone and any ideas - unless it is their own.  They always are looking for the “real reason” you want to go to this brand of journalism.  They need lots of conversation - and reasons - to win them over.

The Rebellious:  They simply refuse to change their ways - and news style - and make no bones about it - outside of the newsroom.  Most times these are photographers who chide reporters for wanting the photog to shoot video of them working on behalf of the viewers.  Like the “Old Timers” they see no reason to change the way they have been doing things all these years - and they are always rebelling against the ideas in the car on the way to news stories - but never to the boss directly.

The Nod 'N No's:  You've seen this group before.  You explain what they need to do, they nod and smile, and then do it just like they always have.  They are sneaky about their rebellion against this new style of journalism.

The Get It 'N Go's:  This is usually a small subculture in the newsroom but are very valuable.  These are the “doers” - you explain what needs to be done, why it needs to be done, and they make it happen.  Unfortunately, in most newsrooms these folks don't get enough credit and attention because managers are dealing with all the naysayer groups instead - trying to convert them.

The Slow To Grasp: You undoubtedly have a number of these folks in your newsroom.  You explain the plan, and the reasoning, over and over to them - but they just can't seem to grasp the concepts.  I see alot of this in producers - which really hurts efforts to install a brand of journalism.  They are not against the plans - they just don't know whay you have to change - and don't seem to retain the information.

The Toes In The Water:  These are the more timid souls in your news department.  They try to showcase this new style of journalim - but in a tentative way.  They want to do it - but wonder if their peers will think less of them because they can't do it well.  These folks need constant reinforcement and feedback.

The Brand Leaders:  These are the most important people in the newsroom to help you instill your new brand across the board.  Ideally, this group is lead by the anchors - who give you total buy-in, and become brand ambassadors - inside and outside the newsroom.  Besides anchors, you want your newsroom opinion leaders to also fit this category - it speeds the buy-in process across the board.

So, there you go.  How many of these sub-cultures reside in your newsroom?

Jim

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 9th, 2008 at 1:12 pm and is filed under Willi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.