Understanding the skills necessary to lead the newsrooms of tomorrow

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While attending the Executive Program in News Innovation and Leadership at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York, Laura Krantz McNeill decided to interview 26 separate media leaders she considered to be “change-makers and innovators” and asked them what they think the essential skills that the next generation of news leadership will need to move us closer to a healthier and more sustainable future for the news media industry.

The result of that work is a research project entitled "New Skills for a New Era: Five Crucial Skills for the Next Generation of Media Leaders in the Era of Community-centric Journalism," an excerpt of which was recently published by NiemanReports.

McNeill, who began her journalism career at the Vermont Digger, also spent seven years as a reporter at The Boston Globe and is now the senior editor of subscriber products at The Chronicle of Higher Education. She lists within the study the essential skills as:

We need leaders who think like product managers.
And understand that a publication’s value is defined by the communities it serves

We need leaders who can strategize.
And who are in conversation with the community.

We need leaders who are excited about being entrepreneurs.
And see opportunity in chaos.

We need business leaders who also evangelize our mission.
And whose devotion to our cause brings others along.

We need leaders who consider themselves stewards.
And who position our organizations, but more importantly, our people, for success.

In this episode of “E&P Reports” we chat with Laura Krantz McNeill who interviewed several news media executives, resulting in a published a study for the Executive Program in News Innovation and Leadership at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. The study outlines a list of essential skills necessary to lead the newsrooms of tomorrow.

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