April 21, 2004
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CONTACT:
Sheila Owens, NAA
(703) 902-1682; Sheila.owens@naa.org
www.naa.org
Amanda Elliott, Maynard Institute
(510) 891-9202; aelliott@maynardije.org
www.maynardije.org
Media Academy seeks to change face of newspaper industry management
Washington – In his opening remarks today at the Newspaper Association of America Annual Convention, NAA Chairman P. Anthony Ridder announced the establishment of the Media Academy, a new training and development program for first-time minority newspaper managers. The Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, based in Oakland, Calif., will run the program, which aims to increase retention of supervisors of color and increase diversity in newspaper management. The NAA Annual Convention is being held April 21-23 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington.
In announcing the creation of the Media Academy, the Knight Ridder chairman and CEO, said: “The point, of course, is to help more people from within our ranks, particularly minorities, to increase their contributions to their newspapers and to become excellent managers. It is also to help us do a better job of retaining talented people over longer periods of time.” Ridder added: “It is absolutely critical for the health and vitality of our business that we do everything in our power to ensure that our papers reflect the diversity of the communities we serve.”
The yearlong program, endorsed by the NAA Board of Directors, will provide intense training to ensure new managers are effective in their roles and positioned for advancement.
“As an industry we do not do a very good job of training first time supervisors. The lack of training often means that people of color are overlooked for those all important entry-level management jobs,” said Dori J. Maynard, president of the Maynard Institute. “There is a cry for a more collaborative, coordinated effort to improve diversity in the newspaper industry, and the Media Academy will be the first program to work with newspapers in fostering this type of long-term development for new minority supervisors.”
The Media Academy will target managers on both the business and editorial sides, with emphasis on the business side. While the Academy will reach out mostly to people of color, white managers are encouraged to apply, Maynard said, because “we need to find ways to talk across racial lines and to give supervisors of all backgrounds tools in managing in a multicultural environment.”
The Media Academy will select 48 participants each year for the one-year development experience. The program will work in concert with sponsoring newspapers to draft a developmental plan for participants. The sponsoring newspaper also must allow the participant to attend two 9-day classroom training sessions, the first to be held at the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University.
Robert H. Giles, curator of the Nieman Foundation, said: “The development of effective leaders and managers of color is essential to addressing critical newsroom issues of retention, mentoring, and building long-term commitments to newspaper work.”
Classroom training will be augmented by on-the-job activities, e-learning and the assignment of a mentor. In addition to teaching the nuts-and-bolts of managing people and managing in a multicultural environment, the curriculum will address the fundamentals of content, marketing, finance and newspaper production.
Candidates for the Media Academy would be talented supervisors from other industries who are being recruited into newspapers, newspaper employees who show clear managerial potential, newspaper supervisors looking to move from one functional area to another, and first-time newspaper supervisors.
The cost to sponsoring newspapers will be $2,500 per participant, plus travel expenses to the classroom sessions. Other costs will be picked up by the Academy. NAA will assist with selection and curriculum development.
Information on application and selection to the Media Academy can be found on www.maynardije.org, or by contacting Amanda Elliott at (510) 891-9202.
The Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education (MIJE) is the oldest organization dedicated to training journalists of color and to helping the news media reflect the nation’s diversity in staffing, content and business operations. Incorporated in 1977 as the Institute for Journalism Education, MIJE was renamed in 1993 to honor its first chairman, the late Robert C. Maynard, former owner and publisher of the Oakland Tribune.
Information about press credentials
Members of the working press who would like to cover the NAA Annual Convention should register onsite at the NAA press office, located in Forum room at the Omni Shoreham Hotel (press office number: 202-756-5313). All news media will be asked to show photo identification and current press credentials or a letter from an assigning editor.
Sponsors of NAA’s 2004 Annual Convention are: Ad Age Group; E. J. Barry Co.; Goss International Co.; Heidelberg; KBA-North America Inc.; Knight Ridder; MAN Roland Inc.; Mutual Insurance; Reuters; TKS (USA) Inc.; Tomorrow’s Workforce; Tribune Media Services; USA Weekend Magazine; Veronis Suhler Stevenson; The Washington Post; and The Washington Times.
NAA is a nonprofit organization representing the $55 billion newspaper industry and more than 2,000 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada. Most NAA members are daily newspapers, accounting for 87 percent of the U.S. daily circulation. Headquartered in Tysons Corner (Vienna, Va.), the Association focuses on six key strategic priorities that affect the newspaper industry collectively: marketing, public policy, diversity, industry development, newspaper operations and readership. Information about NAA and the industry also may be found at www.naa.org.
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