Newspaper management training and attitudes: A survey of managing editors and human resource directors on management training and attitudes toward management in newspapers

Surveys of managing editors and human resource directors at U.S. newspapers were conducted to quantify management training, ascertain hiring practices, and probe attitudes about management training. The response rate of the surveys were too low (14% for managing editors and 9% for human resource directors) to be attributed to the entire industry, but do offer some insight into the culture of management training. There is a correlation among respondents' self-rating of difficulty in dealing with delegating tasks and peer/vertical management. In addition, managing editors with formal management training rate themselves higher as managers and place a higher value on management training. The results also show that newspapers that list management training as a hiring prerequisite evaluate managing editors on management skills more. In addition, this paper makes a business case for investing in management and business training for newsroom managers, and evaluating them based upon these skills, as the demands for innovation and better business practices increase at newspapers, which are struggling with a loss of readership and ad revenues.