One woman writes, edits and delivers a newspaper singlehandedly — is this the future of media?
If it seems extreme to you that there are young journalists who would do anything to get a job in media, then maybe the rock you’re living under is a beautiful dwelling and I hate to shatter any idealism you may have under your luxury rock. But the new world media order is well and truly here.
Young people, particularly writers and journalists, are increasingly finding themselves in roles where their jobs change every few months, and where they end up doing the work of more than one person (read: five people). They are under-resourced, overworked and burdened with the bleak reality of the 24/7 news cycle.
And yet they’re still doing a pretty great job, even despite the countless, often misguided posturing about “clickbait” and “churnalism” being somehow their fault and often failing to account for how much of those strategies are influenced by senior management, desperately trying to keep up with the industry and the competition.
And yet, a new kind of news story has emerged and it’s a truly fascinating one.
As reported in the Columbia Journalism Review, Suzanne Ashe is a one-person newsroom. To be eligible for this unique role, Suzanne had to move to Skagway, a town of less than 1000 year-round residents in the Alaska Panhandle.
Ashe is officially the editor/reporter for The Skagway News a biweekly newspaper. Part of her job is writing every story, laying out every issue, sending it to the printers and picking it up (two hours away) and distributing the papers throughout town and mailing them.
That’s right she does everything.
It’s not yet clear if her job description also includes making sure people don’t misread Skagway for Segway (are you doing it too?)
Ashe, ever the optimist (you kind of have to be in this situation) tells CJR that it’s “so much fun to have that kind of control”.
“Every single aspect of the job, I know how to do. But putting it all together, all at once, is obviously a tall task.”
Well yes, it is the Mount Everest of tall tasks, if you will.
Of course, this is a very unique situation, a small print newspaper in a small town is a kind of microcosm of what newsrooms around the world are starting to experience en masse. But if even a print newspaper is going to such lengths to keep their staff small, imagine what digital media outlets are doing?
This topic speaks to me personally as I have been on the front lines of this new wave genre of millennial working habits. I’ve often found myself solely responsible for all of the digital comms at various companies over the years, across a variety of industries from start ups to established companies. I’ve only had a few people report to me and that was either for massive contract projects or an intern who was begrudgingly assigned to me and about four other more senior managers. I once left my job only to later learn that I was replaced by three people. Such extreme examples have always been the default mode for me.
It seemed inevitable that having worked across all the fields of writing, editing and social media, I’d inevitably end up doing a similar thing with The Vocal, as the main writer, editor and social media manager, managing the business side and being the face of the project. I do have the good fortune of having a great bunch of freelancers on hand, the occasional intern once or twice a year and a casual staff writer who works two days a week, as well as access to some of the best designers in the industry and even a team of sales people. That seems like a luxury in this climate.
Why this matters
I’ve seen first hand what a small team structure looks like when it’s the status quo, not the exception, while I was the main (one and only) social media manager for a medium-sized publisher. This should not come as a surprise at all, since social media is an even more unknown field and companies usually have no idea what they’re doing when it comes to social media, so most only have one person sitting in a corner looking confused.
For this particular publisher, editorial teams consisted of around 1–3 editors and writers assigned to any one publication. Since that was the norm, it put a huge amount of pressure on the writers and editors to hit their daily (usually hourly) deadlines. And they often did it with huge success, and were able to keep up with some of the bigger publishers out there. But it came at a cost. They seemed more stressed than your average writer or editor, and found it difficult to communicate with the non-editorial teams, since they were so busy keeping their heads above water and because their jobs were so all encompassing.
They couldn’t just focus on their stories, they also had to worry about social media, whether Facebook had made some huge algorithm change that would put their publishing goals in jeopardy. They also had to be their own marketers, getting the word out on what they were doing, sharing their own stories but trying not to bombard their followers in the process. Basically doing whatever they could to stay afloat. It wasn’t just keeping up with the quantity required to meet their targets, they were also trying to make sure the work they did was the best work they could do. Because ultimately their success would fall back on being able to produce high quality work under pressure.
This matters because it’s not just smaller publishers who will be bearing the burden in the years to come. Large media organisations are starting to adopt similar processes of downsizing. It crosses into absolutely bizarre territory when one journalist friend explained how she ended up in the HR department one day, doing HR things without any experience.
Sure, it’s possible to run the show solo, as shown by Suzanne Ashe and from my own experience. Good people can still do exceptional things with less. I agree with Suzanne’s comment that it gives you greater control, and it’s a huge challenge, one that’s even more rewarding when you can say you did it and you did it successfully. But I do think we need to be on high alert for the kind of exploitation this structure can foist on naive, hard-working, eager to please young people.
If this is the inevitable direction we’re going in, then here are some nuggets of wisdom I can extract from my brain, having seen the fires of Mordor up close.
You do need some kind of team-like structure
It’s not just a nice-to-have, it’s pretty much an essential. Suzanne Ashe probably doesn’t have crazy targets to meet in Skagway, so the pressure is somewhat lifted and she can likely get by on her own. But most people can’t. So even if these employees aren’t full timers assigned to work on the same project, having graphic designers, product managers, social media managers, marketers, salespeople that you have access to, can help take your publication from “one person’s sad blog” to “small but professional empire”. Just make sure someone is responsible for those employees and is keeping track of their time, availability and sanity.
Get some support systems stat
Start thinking about whether you have good and adequate support systems in place, whatever form that might take. Do you have a team of freelancers who understand your unique position, who can be flexible enough to meet your requirements? Do they appreciate when you go the extra mile to help and support them, even if you don’t really have the time to do it? Having contributors on board like this is a lifesaver. I would know, I have them! Hi guys, you’re the best!
Even more important, does the company have HR systems in place (preferably not ones mistakenly manned by journalists) that can provide support and assistance if you need it? If you can find a similar support network within your company get onto that, pronto.
Network like a mofo
Sure, you may not have a huge team but that doesn’t mean you can’t reach out to colleagues across the industry, share war stories, commiserate on similar problem points and help each other out occasionally. It’s also good to let fellow industry members know what’s going on in other workplaces for solidarity, but also because you never know if you might end up working with them one day.
“Hey look at this thing we did”
Refer to yourself as “we” and “us” when dealing with fellow colleagues, clients and the Outside People. It will confuse everyone around you but comfort you in your time of need and loneliness.
Empathy, empathy, empathy
Be kind, patient and understanding to your employees and interns. I’ve always found that the fresh faced new upstarts I work with are exceptional at going above and beyond what is required of them. This is because they are hardworking and grateful to have a job in a struggling industry. They’re not afraid to stay back and do the work or double down on a project.
Being aware of this as a manager means you can easily exploit their keen nature to do twice as much as they should be doing. Remind them often of what is expected of them and put limits on their workloads. Look out for them because you might not have had that kind of support and wasn’t that just the pits? It can only serve us all in the long run to consider the needs of the not yet fully formed humans who are trying to gain rare and much needed experience in the world. Nurture their talents, give them clear boundaries for what they’re expected to do in an average day, make sure you acknowledge the extra work they’re doing and give them feedback. That way you become more like a mentor to them, something our generation really values above all else.
you don’t even need to tell them what to do, they already know!
Take back that control, baby
Ensure that if you are appointed the sole editor or manager of a project, that you do have a good amount of control in how the project plays out. Being given that much responsibility means someone higher up obviously believes you’re capable of carrying it out, so make sure that translates to decision-making and playing a role in the direction of the project, if that is indeed something that’s important to you.
And for those in management
If things must change rapidly and suddenly, have honest conversations with your staff about why that’s happening, what it means for them moving forward and the ways they’ll be compensated for the extra work they’ll be required to do (if at all). Trying to sneak in more responsibilities without acknowledging things like pay rises and changing job titles is far too common and it’s going to happen more and more in these industries if we don’t speak out about it early on.
This situation you’re in is still fairly new, even if it has been happening in some places for a while now. Even media unions are still wrapping their heads around the new parameters and rules governing digital publishers. So when you notice something isn’t quite right, don’t internalise it and take it on as yet another burden you have no choice over. Your work and your mental health will suffer as a result of it. The reality is that quality is going to be the biggest casualty as the media world shifts dramatically and continues to operate under the misguided belief that large quantities of crap can pass for an industry.
The most important thing above all else is the collective mental and physical health of a new generation of employees that will be further compromised if we don’t address this issue now. We already know that young people are putting in more work hours than any other groupand that songs about work are becoming the anthems of our generation. We need to look out for each other in these times.
So let’s keep all that in mind as we embark on this journey together, but alone.
This article by Sheree Joseph was originally published on The Vocal.
