Synposis by JOHN GITTELSOHN
James Naughton opened his presentation with a Johnny Carson/Karnak imitation, donning a turban and divining answers to questions inside an envelope about topics like Al Gore and the Florida vote count.
I can’t rememeber any of the jokes, but the point — which Naughton has made throughout his career as a reporter for The New York Times, editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer and president of The Poynter Institute — is that journalism and fun can mix.
The tongue-in-cheek title of his talk was “Why the editor is always right.” The serious message was that the worst thing you can do as an editor — or as any manager, for that matter — is micromanage.
As an editor at the Inquirer, Naughton said he discontinued the paper’s daily planning meetings, because reporters — not editors — should be the ones who determine what goes in the paper. He mocked editors who demand that writers adhere to strict office hours, telling an anecdote about a reporter who was ordered to drop everything in the middle of an interview to drop everything and head for her desk because it was 9 a.m.
Naughton’s paragon of a reporter was Richard Ben Cramer, who disappeared for days while covering the Middle East and produced Pulitzer- winning stories. Cramer followed his nose for news instead of following an editor’s orders.
Naughton said editors need to trust reporters. They also need to encourage writers to take risks.
He cited the example of another reporter who profiled football coach Jerry Glanville and wrote a stream-of-consciousness story in a single paragraph. The paper held the piece a day so the story could appear as a container on one page rather than having to jump, so that presentation bolstered the writer’s intention.
Naughton cited another project launched by reporters about a day-in-the-life of AIDS around the world. The only condition Inquirer editors placed on the project was that it be done as a daily. Naughton said it mushroomed as incredible stories streamed in from Asia, Africa and elsewhere. He said people from around the newsroom volunteered to help edit and copy edit and design pages.
The AIDS Day anecdote reminded me of my favorite times working at a newspaper: When everyone is buzzing on a great story, everyone is working together and everyone produces great work.
Naughton is used to working with the best in the business. Some of his lessons would be hard to apply to small, short-staffed local papers. Green reporters need guidance and assistance far ahead of deadlines. People need to plan, to communicate, to cover their asses, to maintain a semblance of order and organization so newspapers can professionally produce what we at the Register call “The Daily Miracle.”
But it’s hard to quarrel with Naughton’s essential message: Eeditors get the best results when they who trust their reporters — and other associates — by encouraging creativity, risk-taking and initiative.
In many ways, Naughton was preaching to the converted at the National Writers Workshop. The people who need to hear what he says are the writers’ bosses.
