Platform: Engagement at Every Level

Evolving into a paper for the future generation is a big challenge, but it’s an even bigger opportunity. We need everyone’s ideas, energy, and even excitement to leverage that opportunity.

My plan for the DTH is rooted in one word: engagement. Engagement from all of our stakeholders—staff, audience, alumni, the community, and the media industry at large—is paramount to our success.

So, why is engagement so important? Engagement reflects the amount of discretionary effort someone puts into something. It’s when people bring their A-game to everything they do. But that does not happen by accident.

I want to be intentional about engaging all of our stakeholders, so that every person connected to the DTH feels like they are a part of something worth building. Here’s my plan for increasing engagement so we can work together to ensure the future of The Daily Tar Heel.

Engaging Our Staff

Engagement starts with our staff. If we get this piece right, other things fall into place organically. Great journalism starts with a newsroom where people care deeply about the work and the mission. Local news is a calling. Getting our staff connected to that calling will drive the kind of innovation, creativity, and dedication that makes a newsroom hum.

We start by making The Daily Tar Heel a place where people really want to be. Culture is key here.

Here are some of my ideas for creating an innovative and engaged culture:

1. Create a sense of belonging by encouraging strong relationships across the newsroom helps build that sense of community.

2. Reduce turnover. Retaining staff will help us create institutional memory and build a foundation of leaders who have real buy-in and will pull in newcomers.

3. Work with the team to create a list of values that govern how we interact.

4. Reduce stress where we can. Burnout is rampant in newsrooms.

5. Invest in our people. The DTH is a launching pad for student journalists. What they learn here matters.

6. Invest in leaders. I’d like to create a training program that encompasses basic leadership skills (how to give and receive feedback, how to set and manage expectations, how to delegate effectively, how to manage conflict, etc.)

7. Create a system for rewarding and recognizing hard work. A formal program that celebrates good work could go a long way toward making people feel appreciated.

8. Provide support by being accessible leaders. Our doors are always open.

9. Provide clear, consistent communication that flows both ways. This is essential for managing change.

10. Create a path for promotion. Support students who want to move into an editor’s or manager’s role with a development plan.

Engaging Audiences

As editor, I would start the year by creating an audience team of editors and management members. This team would engage with the entire spectrum of our audience to ask how they view us and what they want from our paper. We would use the feedback from our meetings to create an audience map that details who our audience is and what they need (which will help desk editors make coverage decisions).

Engaging People Who Can Help Us Succeed

There are people who want to support us—professors, alumni, and professionals working in the field—and we have a chance to invite them in to speak. They can share best practices that we can replicate in our newsroom and provide networking opportunities.

Engaging With Our Own Processes

The workflow of the DTH is intense and can be overwhelming, which is a large factor in staff burnout. We can audit of our workflow to see if we have any outdated processes and systems that no longer serve us. This would be a highly collaborative process, gathering input from current and previous editors as well as writers. We have to ask ourselves “Is there a better way?”

Reengaging Our Legacy Brand

The DTH has been around for over 130 years. That means something. We should carry ourselves with the confidence that comes from knowing we are part of a legacy. That means producing work that lives up to our name and talking about it with pride.

Engaging With Our Future

I view being editor of The Daily Tar Heel as the conductor of a great orchestra. My goal is to find the most talented people around, help them grow, and give them the tools and support they need to run the show. I’ve spent a lot of time in my application talking about engaging and developing people, and that’s intentional. Investing in our staff is the key to strengthening the DTH. Our world and industry are undergoing a lot of change, but change comes with incredible opportunities. If we all work together, we can minimize our uncertainty and maximize our potential.

Let’s keep printing news and raising hell—together.

@Kathryn_DeHart 

@dailytarheel

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