The same survey found that editors believe companies are increasingly focused on the bottom line, sometimes sacrificing overall quality. The survey also found that staffing issues, especially being understaffed and having a high turnover rate, are among the major contributors to stress. In other words, those journalists who lacked opportunities for professional or intellectual growth were more likely to be dissatisfied, the survey found. It should come as no surprise, then, that editors reported in the ASNE Small Newspapers survey that they spend only 3 to 4 percent of their editorial budgets on staff training. To make matters worse, when budgets are cut back, the training budget is usually among the first items to go, despite the fact that well-trained and motivated staff members produce a better newspaper.
Editors know that, of course.
They also know budgeting realities aren t likely to change. The committee also plans to put together a resource list of books, Web sites, tapes or other low-cost training materials. Based on the lists, the committee plans to put together a daylong workshop using the ideas to do in-house training and mentoring. Once the bugs have been worked out, the plan is to make the workshop available to other press organizations for their annual or semi-annual meetings. The committee s primary objective is to promote the idea that there should be an atmosphere of continuous training and learning in newsrooms.