When Katharine Graham died this summer, I couldn’t read enough about her life and exemplary leadership at the helm of The Washington Post.
I looked for the new round of stories every day, as I’m sure many of us did. I didn’t know her, but I felt enriched and inspired by what she stood for in journalism. She believed in her journalists and supported them. She played on the world stage, but her community was just as important to her. She was courageous in the face of intense and powerful forces.
For me, Mrs. Graham’s story also had a compelling relevance. At the time of her passing, I had just taken a role in a project for the American Society of Newspaper Editors that involves profiling leaders in journalism. I will edit these stories for a book ASNE plans to publish next spring.
Part of the inspiration for the book, Leading by Example, came from a powerful feature of ASNE’s 2001 convention. Interspersed among convention sessions on readership, leadership, and change in the newspaper field were “Leadership Moments,” profiles presented by colleagues of some of the outstanding leaders who have made a difference in journalism.
Katharine Graham was on hand to hear the tribute to her. Other great leaders were there as well, to hear the stories of their accomplishments.
Convention attendees were glowing in their appreciation of the “Moments.” The profiles brought us back to our values, our commitments to journalism, our models who demonstrate how we can all make a difference for our newspapers, our journalists, our communities.
You can read and hear these profiles on ASNE’s website.
http://www.asne.org/kiosk/archive/convention/2001/leadership/index2.html
Knowing there are more good people out there to be recognized, we issued our first call recently for nominations of leaders to be profiled in the book. Names are starting to come in.
There is a small-town publisher who leads with a journalistic commitment and a strong people focus. There’s an editor who inspired high school journalists over the years, and a gritty investigative journalist whose colleague cited her perseverance. There are national figures whose names would be familiar to most everyone.
The nominations are being accepted through Oct. 10. We want more. There are valuable lessons to be learned and shared. There are turning points that underscored why leadership and journalism are important to communities and democracy.
You do not have to be a member of ASNE to nominate a leader or to be nominated for the book. We hope journalists will take this opportunity to help ASNE and Poynter highlight any professional, regardless of position. So think of who influences you or inspires you to be a better journalist, who holds and lives up to high standards, who makes a difference in his or her journalistic world.
Most important today is for you to write a short summary of a great example of leadership in journalism. The summaries of 150 words should be submitted by Oct.10. You can send them to me or to Paul Tash, editor and president of the St. Petersburg Times. (Paul heads ASNE’s Leadership Committee.) Here is how to reach us: (e-mail is preferred at this stage):
Pam Johnson
The Poynter Institute
801 Third St. S
St. Petersburg, Fla. 33701
pjohnson@poynter.org
Paul Tash
St. Petersburg Times
P.O. Box 1121
St. Petersburg, Fla. 33731
ptash@sptimes.com
The book will be organized along the lines of leadership strengths that emerge from the stories. So please be specific in nominations about particular strengths that your leadership nominee exhibits.
