Last Updated: May 20, 1999
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Good writing
Everybody in journalism needs retraining all the time, just to keep
up with our rapidly changing profession. Unfortunately, nobody has the
budget or time for massive retraining.
Everybody also needs training to keep their skills sharp and fill in
holes in their education and experience. Fortunately, such training requires
no budget and very little time if you use buddy systems, or mentoring.
1 lunch, 2 writers
The simplest form of mentoring involves two people and maybe a lunch.
Suppose you have one reporter who consistently fails to find multiple solid
sources, and another who develops squads of authorities who talk well.
Obviously, the first reporter needs to learn from the second one.
But newsroom cultures avoid admitting weaknesses, asking for help, or
openly admiring skills we assume everyone has. Enter the coaching editor,
who plays matchmaker by setting up a private half-hour coaching session.
Sending the two reporters to lunch together with the explicit assignment
to discuss the relevant technique usually works and avoids embarrassment.
The coaching editor follows up by monitoring the reporter’s new awareness
and progress.
2 dogs, 1 byline
Another mentoring technique involves a period of working together. The
Providence (R.I.) Journal-Bulletin developed a system called "Lead Dog/Sturdy
Dog," used to get newly hired reporters up to speed. An experienced writer
(the "Lead Dog") paired up with the new staffer (the "Sturdy Dog") to report
and write stories together for the first month, sharing the byline.
The Lead Dog taught the puppy about the paper and the city, plus lots
of tricks. The Sturdy Dog’s youthful enthusiasm tended to rev up the tired
old dog. Both improved. Cost: nothing.
The Repository of Canton, Ohio, invented a more complex system. Its
star investigative editor produced one story a month, and deputized two
city-desk reporters to help her with each one. All 14 city reporters rotated
through this system two at a time on a seven-month cycle. They overloaded
their investigative duties in addition to their regular beats. No one complained
because they found the training so valuable, and the system avoided charges
of blame or favoritism by involving everyone equally.
3 people, all better
Some newspapers institute long-term mentoring systems, usually involving
senior reporters as teachers and advisers for younger staffers. Such a
system can serve as a reward for older valued writers, justifying higher
salaries, snazzy titles like "senior reporter," and relief from the daily
grind of heavy story production.
Such mentoring systems work or not depending on the abilities and personality
of the mentor. Just because people become star reporters does not mean
they have the human skills necessary to coach others. In fact, stars usually
need a little toning down before they can teach.
The easiest way to mentor another reporter involves going over clips.
Unfortunately, this is also the least effective method since it often turns
into a list of sins: "This word is misspelled, the stylebook doesn’t allow
blah blah, and you’ve buried your lead. Again." Such lessons don’t stick
because the mentor assumes the reporter knows how to do it right and does
not teach necessary techniques.
Powerful mentoring involves discussion of the writers’ process to discover
bad habits, gaps in training, assumptions, etc. You repair problems in
their process, not in their copy.
By definition, coaching editors mentor their reporters, but reporters
tend to learn better from other reporters. The trio of reporter, mentor,
and coaching editor works best, because all three learn new tricks.
Fry, an independent writing coach and affiliate of The Poynter Institute,
has just moved to Charlottesville, Va. Call him at 804/296-6830.
