Weight classes of public radio newsrooms

Radio’s local newsrooms weigh in

Published in Current, Jan. 30, 2012

Commentary by Michael V. Marcotte

As the chorus calling on public media to add more local journalists grows, let’s be mindful of the specific ways adding journalists can dramatically improve local public service.

For example, just by enlarging its newsroom to four, five or six journalists, a station will gain the human wherewithal to unleash a proper beat system. Beats cause reporters to become specialists. With a news staff of six, for example, a newsroom could have reporters well versed in the actors, history and nuances of a starter set of beats — education, health, business, law, environment and arts/culture.

These specialists are more likely to break original stories, to know when it’s important to follow up, and to extract meaningful news analysis from a week’s events.

Shifting to a beat system is a quantum leap in editorial power, but that’s just one of the thresholds in staffing at which a newsroom begins to realize strategic benefits.

Even adding a single journalist can bring disproportionately powerful results. More than half of all NPR member stations have three or fewer full-time journalists — in some cases because the station’s major interest is music, or it simply lacks the budget to hire more. Even so, adding one or two newsgatherers can make the difference between rip-and-read headlines and original reporting, gaining the ability to cover two important events at the same time, or having a spare set of eyes to edit reports before they’re broadcast.

Larger newsrooms achieve greater levels of actualization. Those big enough to staff a daily talk show are a case in point. The shows expand local service in a new dimension by giving people a virtual place to gather, discuss their views and have their questions answered. The shows can spotlight in-house reporters as experts. A local host can quickly propagate a large social-media base. And the shows can transform stations — making headlines via interviews, introducing more live production capacity and enabling the core competencies needed during crisis coverage.

(Please continue reading the article:)

via Current.org | Weight classes of public radio newsrooms, 2012.

Author note:

Thanks to Current for commissioning this overview of local public radio newsrooms and their stages of advancement.

My article goes on to describe the six “weight classes” of local newsrooms:

1. Featherweight (0-1 Fulltime News Employee)
2. Lightweight (2-3 FT)
3. Welterweight (4-8 FT)
4. Middleweight (9-19 FT)
5. Cruiserweight (20-29 FT)
6. Heavyweight (30+ FT)

I finish the article with an observation that the push underway to ramp up local news on public radio is catching on… and that it is remarkable what qualitative improvements can take place as staff sizes increase.

– M. Marcotte