The Secret to Lasting Change in the Newsroom

Want to make long-lasting effective change within your newsroom? Stay focused and don’t try to be a perfectionist. That’s the advice from the Head of Change of one of the world’s biggest broadcast news operations.

In the next episode of the Making the Media podcast, Charlotte Eimer, Head of Change at BBC News and Current Affairs in the UK, says there are unique challenges when trying to implement change within news organizations.

She says, “In change, I think striving for perfection is the enemy of progress, and you need to get out there and get started and see how things go. So, there are definitely specific challenges to that complex environment and the culture within it.”

In her discussion with host Craig Wilson, she says it is critical to be clear about the nature of the change you are trying to effect. Clarity of purpose really is core to change, and when you have that absolute laser-like focus, it’s incredible what you can achieve.”

However, she says that it’s not yet clear if new methods of working adopted during the pandemic will stick or if things will return to normal over time. “The truth will tell whether all of this change sticks or how quickly we actually revert to the old ways of working and everyone’s back in the newsroom and back in the office.”

The next episode of the Making the Media Podcast, “Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes,” will be released on all major podcast platforms on Monday, July 12.

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