In this business it's not always about how good you are but how good you are at selling your ideas. It doesn't do much good to do amazing work if you can't get it published.
It's really about the language we use when selling our ideas. If we want to be credible leaders in the newsroom, we need to talk about the work in terms of readership. Creative intelligent work needs to be a bottom-line issue.
Forgive me if this sounds simplistic, but I have seen too many newsrooms where the visual departments are far from equal partners in the storytelling process. You want a seat at the table.
We all want to do good work. And if your arguments for your work are about making your pages more compelling to readers and making your content more accessible, you'll find it much easier to sell your ideas.
Doing your homework will also make your arguments more bulletproof. Poynter's eye tracking studies offer some good nuggets. This one offers some scientific support for short-form storytelling. And I have to admit to quoting Mario Garcia in the past because he's a visual expert known to most editors.
Changing the culture of newsrooms doesn't happen overnight, but now's a good time to decide to be taken seriously.
How's the culture in your newsroom?
Comments