Newsrooms should open their doors to job-seeking journos
NPR has an interesting piece on a small ad agency in New York that has opened its doors to those in the profession who are looking for work. The job seekers get a place to research job opportunities and a place to network. The ad agency gets more sounding boards for new ideas and, occasionally, more new ideas from the job seekers.
Seems like a model some newsrooms, with plenty of extra desk space these days, should entertain.
Corporate HR departments would probably provide the wet blanket with some lame policy about non-employees using company equipment, but if not, it could be a cool coexistence with working journalists bouncing ideas off job-seeking journalists for stories they are reporting and vice versa.
Several people have floated the idea of newsroom cafes as a way to open up newsrooms to conversation in the community. How about a shared workspace, which has worked for years with technology and other creative professionals? Job-seeking journalists wouldn’t be able to afford a monthly rent, so tap their expertise and get back some of the brain power lost in the last round of layoffs.
I read of a similar cafe-style scheme that has started in Prague http://raconteuron.blogspot.com/2009/06/czech-coffee-shops-reaffirm-value-of.html
There is an agency in the Detroit area which is doing something similar. They don’t open it to out of work journalists but they are doing a co-operative. I am not sure how many agencies are like this but it seems like a good idea.
I am looking for work and to bounce ideas off of people who are already working in the space and to network in a constructive environment seems like the way to go.
Brilliant move for the strat commers out there – get your whole body in the door and show them your stuff. @Tim’s Prague link is good too. This open newsroom idea has great potential for re-invigorating the field – it’s like the Secret of My Success without the death and sneaking around.