It's ironic that those are exactly the kinds of challenges coaching can help newsrooms overcome. In a recent telephone interview, Clark, a senior scholar, writer and teacher at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., said he can think of no better place than the small community newspaper to practice the art of coaching. In community journalism, the roles of reporters and editors often blur. Editors may have to write, writers may have to edit. The right kinds of conversations will help everyone re-imagine their rolls and their tasks.
Community newspapers are the teaching hospitals of the journalism world.
It is where many of our nation's journalists begin their careers. It is where they learn how to do everything from capture the color of a firemen's carnival to pay tribute to a deceased community hero. Basically, the more time editors and reporters spend talking about stories before any writing begins, the less time they'll spend trying to straighten things out under the pressure of deadline, when changes can lead to disagreements and unnecessary mistakes. It seems simple enough. Conversations about possible story ideas.