Module: Managing People

This free six-week module is designed for senior journalists who are stepping into leadership roles which involve managing teams of people.

It aims to equip future media leaders with the skills to manage and develop teams and develop a positive and open newsroom culture. The content is free to download and can be adapted by universities and colleges to suit specific needs.

Module overview

• Length: 6 weeks
• Format: Blended learning (can be delivered in-person, online, or as self-directed study)
• Audience: Senior journalists, newsroom editors, and media leaders
• Availability: Free to download and adaptable for university and college use

Module objectives

• By the end of this six-week module participants will be able to:
  • Hire, initiate, train and and develop newsroom staff effectively
  • Set clear performance goals using structured frameworks
  • Motivate and support journalists through inclusive and empathetic leadership
  • Run purposeful news meetings and manage editorial workflows
  • Create a diverse, healthy, and vibrant newsroom culture
  • Align team behaviours with core brand values and strategic direction

This module provides the foundation for media leaders to manage with integrity, vision, and resilience in an increasingly complex news environment.

Week 1: Hiring and developing staff

• Focus:
  • Recruitment and integrating strategies
  • Identifying skills gaps
  • Personal and team development
• Core reading:
  • Hiring and developing staff
  • What editors look for when hiring journalists
  • Preparing for a job interview
• Activities:
  • Simulate a recruitment panel with interview role-play
  • Draft a welcoming plan for a new journalist
  • Analyse existing team skills and identify development needs

Week 2: Managing performance and setting objectives

• Focus:
  • Setting individual and team goals
  • Applying performance frameworks
  • Creating a culture of accountability
• Core reading:
  • Managing people and setting objectives
  • SMART objectives for media training
    • Lesson: SMART objectives for media training
  • Gap analysis in media training
    • Lesson: Gap analysis for staff training
• Activities:
  • Write SMART objectives for a journalism team
  • Conduct a mock appraisal session
  • Use gap analysis to plan future training

Week 3: Motivating and leading teams

• Focus:
  • Motivation and morale in newsrooms
  • Leading by example
  • Empowering individual voices
• Core reading:
  • How to motivate journalists
  • Creating a vibrant newsroom culture
  • Unlocking journalistic potential
• Activities:
  • Design a staff recognition initiative
  • Create a newsroom ‘vision wall’ with team values
  • Discuss leadership styles and their impact

Week 4: Leading effective news meetings

• Focus:
  • Newsroom communication and collaboration
  • Editorial planning and decision-making
  • Managing conflict and encouraging ideas
• Core reading:
  • How to run an effective news meeting
  • Getting the best out of a news meeting
  • Building a newsroom staffing rota
• Activities:
  • Role-play a live editorial meeting
  • Analyse different approaches to team rota planning
  • Review real-world editorial challenges and solutions

Week 5: Supporting inclusion and mental health

• Focus:
  • Managing diversity and ensuring equity
  • Understanding trauma and mental health in journalism
  • Creating safe, supportive workspaces
• Core reading:
  • Diversity in journalism
  • Gender equality in the media
    • Lesson: Gender equality in the media
  • Female representation in news leadership and coverage
  • Journalism, trauma and stress
    • Lesson: Journalism, trauma, and stress
• Activities:
  • Conduct a diversity audit of a case study newsroom
  • Draft a support plan for journalists covering traumatic stories
  • Discuss how to challenge unconscious bias and create inclusive editorial policies

Week 6: Vision, values, and sustainable leadership

• Focus:
  • Setting editorial and organisational direction
  • Aligning brand values with team behaviours
  • Building public trust and future planning
• Core reading:
  • Winning audience trust and loyalty
  • Brand values and news
    • Lesson: Brand values and news
  • Preparing a media corporate plan
• Activities:
  • Develop a newsroom charter based on shared values
  • Draft a media corporate plan summary
  • Reflect on leadership goals for the future

Assessment and completion:

Participants should keep a leadership journal and complete a final project: a management plan for a real or fictional newsroom. This includes hiring priorities, team development goals, diversity strategy, rota and meeting planning, and a vision statement.