Going from reporter to editor

I've known A LOT of people who made the transition from reporter to editor and were fired within the first six months.....including me (now I'm back to reporting).

I was 30 at the time but looked like I was about 23 and became city editor at a place I had never previously worked. I supervised three reporters, two of whom were both 23 and the other reporter was in his 50s. The older reporter understood that a lot of what I was trying to do was correct, but I was told the two younger reporters complained about me before my first day because they didn't think I was old enough to supervise them.

They also were atrocious writers (but thought they were as brilliant as Ernest Hemingway) and refused to respond to my guidance and advice. They also refused to write according to basic journalism standards. They complained constantly to my superiors when I corrected their work.

I couldn't win respect of the two young reporters or establish my authority. I lost the job within the first three months because "morale was bad" under my leadership.

Proceed with caution!

And MOST IMPORTANTLY, only allow yourself to be promoted from WITHIN the company...........don't move to a different company to assume a higher position.......the company I transitioned to had a lot of different policies and guidelines than what I was used to, so that caused a lot of problems.........and as far as impressions go, you also have a lot more to prove when working under people who don't know you very well.

 

I had a similar situation (I jumped in as editor at 32 and had two young reporters who were 22 or 23). I started out a little heavy-handed, actually. Later on, when the more experienced reporter left and I hired another young (23) reporter, I was able to step my foot off the accelerator a bit.

The biggest thing I learned from my father's many conversations about management (he had a supervisory role at a previous nursing gig) and his partner's seemingly nightly queries for advice was to start out establishing a professional relationship first. Once that's established and starts to work, then you can do other things.

Two-plus years later, I'm still here, dammit.