FRIDAY, JANUARY 6, 2006
Resolving to Be More
In the spirit of all that's fresh and new, I've made
a list of one editor's New Year's resolutions. I don't know if I'll be
able to keep all of them, but they're worth striving for. In 2006, I
resolve to:
1) Be more human. In the age of Google News,
when a computer algorithm can create a front page by selecting stories
from 4,500 news sources, it's more important than ever for editors to
tap into their quirks, instincts and passions -- as well as those of
their staff. Let's pursue stories to which we feel an emotional
connection. Let's conduct investigations when our instincts tell us
something might be wrong. Let's look for features that surprise us and
offer us the serendipity of reading. All of this is what makes us
human, and helps our newspapers be more relevant to readers.
2) Show that I care.
I need to ask people on my staff how they and their families are doing
before discussing their next assignments. I need to leave my office and
take writers and editors to lunch -- with no agenda. A lot of my staff
members are in the baby boom generation. They are living in "The
Sandwich" -- caring for kids and aging parents. While we still need to
cover the news wherever and whenever it breaks, I need to be flexible
with my staff members' schedules whenever it's possible.
3) Stay engaged with stories.
The constant challenge for most editors is the amount of administrative
work we have to complete. We can spend our days pondering budgets, time
cards, staff evaluations and personnel issues. And that's not even
including the number of meetings we have to attend. I feel nourished
when I brainstorm story ideas. I feel re-energized when I talk with
editors and writers about their sections and stories. I need to make
more time to do that, because that's why I became a journalist in the
first place.
4) Get out of my comfort zone. When I
was a reporter, I used to wonder how editors got their story ideas by
staying in the newsroom all day long. I questioned whether they were
truly curious about the world outside. Then I became an editor and
found myself getting out less and less. While I still do a lot of
traveling both in the United States and overseas, I don't get my fix of
diverse cultures as often as I'd like. I need to get out of my comfort
zone and attend at least one or two community events a month.
5) Read more.
When I was a kid, I used to devour books. I remember spending an entire
summer reading piles of science fiction and mystery novels. Somewhere
along the way, I lost that habit. I know it's an excuse, but it's hard
to read books after a long day at work. Yet I also know that the most
ineffective editors -- those who can't talk about what constitutes good
writing -- are those who do not read. So I must find time for that in
my daily life.
6) Write more. Not every editor needs to
do this, but I find that, because I have a natural love for writing, I
need to take on at least one challenging reporting and writing
assignment a year.
7) Laugh more. I need to keep the
Monty Python
cheese-shop skit in my head. That's the one in which John Cleese, the
customer, recites a list of cheeses, and Michael Palin, the clerk,
keeps telling him he's out of those cheeses. But he won't tell him what
kinds of cheese he actually has. (Click
here
for a link to a version of the skit.). We need to recognize that life
-- and life in the newsroom -- is absurd, and sometimes we just have to
laugh when things don't make sense. It would be nice if I could laugh
at least once a day in the newsroom.
|
Photo courtesy of Tom Huang
Tom Huang's grandmother and her children (his mother is the second child on the left) in a passport picture taken around 1939, just before they fled from Hong Kong through Vietnam. |
8) Remember the photo on my desk.
Propped up against my computer stand, I have an old black-and-white
photo of my grandmother, my mother and three of her siblings. The photo
was taken in 1939, when my grandmother was 28 and my mother was 4. My
mother's family was fleeing from Hong Kong to Chungking via Vietnam.
They were escaping the advance of the Japanese army during the war
between China and Japan. They needed to take the family portrait for a
passport to get through Vietnam. I need to look at the photo at least
once a day to remind myself what my family went through to give me and
my siblings what we have today. As the new year begins and we look
forward, it's important that we also look to our past, to help ground
us in our journalistic mission.
Whether it's getting out of my
comfort zone or showing that I care about my staff or remembering my
ancestors, it's important that I do these things with passion. Because
passion is contagious, and it drives us to become better than we ever
thought we could be.
Posted at 3:05:13 PM
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