The wife would say it’s because I’m a total geek.

A newsroom blog is a really good idea. Howard points out in his comment above how he encourages people to read and comment on what he writes.

I thought it would be a useful exercise to see how many newspaper execs spend more than 1hour a week on the web doing something other than email, shopping and booking tickets. Perhaps that mutual expectation would be better informed if everyone got time to play on the web a little.

There is a very real empirical base for them thinking so. On a course for editors I gave last week, one of their MD:s sent a mail on the last day of the course (Friday) wanting a detailed action plan by Monday. No time for them to discuss with their staff, no time to let things sink in, no time for…

You wrote:
“But it may not just be that your management isn’t communicating with you. Are you communicating with them?”

This is a valid point and an important one. There is a certain fear involved of course, no one likes to tell the boss: nope, cant do it (except maybe IT where it seems to be an embedded first response). But unless there are relative levels of mutual expectation then there will be problems. And with the best will in the world miss-communication can occur.
My favored solution at the moment is a newsroom blog. The technology is simple and intuitive, it re-enforces the “going digital” vibe and it is scalable. It can be either in a single newsroom or a “dispersed office”. It allows both archiving and searching thus enabling the growth of knowledge in a newsroom or organization over time. The commenting allows for a conversation to develop and it brings a transparency to the follow up.

I agree it will get there. It will be a painful trip for some but there is no going back.

I think that idea of two-way communication is key. Getting out there and engaging. The models of ownership in the UK and US may be different but I think there is a common problem of dispersed offices as groups buy papers in different geographical locations. Communication tends to be by ‘remote control’ by necessity and culturally tends to be one way.

I’m wondering whether some form of mentoring scheme across papers and groups may work; Tech savvy journalists and editors supporting counterparts in other papers. It could even be expanded so that every exec in the group is adopted by a digital savvy journo or editor so they can tell them about whats going on the web.

I know a few execs in the UK who have a ‘guru’ that they turn to and they’re often a member of staff much lower in the organisation. Opens the lines of communication and shares best practice within the group.

We’re trying to improve communication on these issues. We have e-mail discussion lists. I encourage people to read my blog and ask questions. I’ve started doing news staff meetings in the field when and where I can.

It all takes time. But we’ll get there. It’ll be fine (sort of the motto in these parts).