The Changing Newsroom #3: Principles and Guidelines for Managing Change

Summary

Four aspects of change formed the basis for this research series. These aspects were:
■ Aspect one: The motivation behind change
■ Aspect two: Specific changes made to the newsroom
■ Aspect three: Changes to personnel
■ Aspect four: The practice of newsroom change
The first two special reports in this series focused on aspects one to three, particularly the common themes and issues of change facing European newsrooms today. Case studies were presented which illustrated how change is planned and implemented for new editorial products and services, increasing productivity and/or introducing new IT and infrastructure.
This third and final report in the series develops the fourth aspect the practice of newsroom change, and draws together elements of the theoretical approaches and frameworks presented in the first report and lessons learnt in the second report. The overarching goal for this final report is to present a set of principles and guidelines for the practice of newsroom change management. These principles and guidelines can be applied to any editorial change process, led by a publishing house and editorial management.
The report is underpinned by a model mentioned previously that identifies three distinct change phases:
■ Phase one: Understanding and planning change
■ Phase two: Implementation
■ Phase three: Sustaining change