When I was announced as a joint winner of ICFJ’s Michael Elliott Award for Excellence in African Storytelling in April, I was thrilled to finally win an award I first applied for in 2018. Even more, I was excited to spend two weeks at The Economist’s newsroom in London as part of a professional development program provided through the award.
I arrived at the London office of The Economist in June to the warm welcome of Editorial Assistant Ketna Patel, Executive Editor Daniel Franklin, Africa Editor Jonathan Rosenthal and a host of others. During the two weeks that followed, I took part in nearly two dozen one-on-one meetings with individuals from various departments to learn about their work, attended editorial meetings and social gatherings, and wrote a short piece for The Economist’s Espresso daily news update app.
During this time, I focused on lessons and practices I could replicate in my work as a journalist in Africa and editor at the African fact-checking project Dubawa. Here are my top five reflections:
The "all-rounder" journalists
Would you rather be a niche reporter or an "all-rounder"? Most of The Economist’s staffers would vote for the latter. The outlet encourages movement across departments and regions. For example, the Economist’s news editor, Richard Cockett, had served as the Britain correspondent, Central America and Caribbean correspondent, education editor, and Africa editor, among other roles over more than 20 years at the paper.
The Economist’s China editor, Roger McShane, said that frequent movement across desks is because of the newsroom’s core belief in the need to expand people's worldviews. Frequent movement doesn’t mean that Economist journalists aren’t subject experts in their areas: a typical redeployment to a new region or department commences with “months of research, contact building, trust building, and penetration into new spaces,” McShane said.
As a versatile journalist myself, I agree with this approach. It demonstrates that one can be a jack of all trades while still mastering others. It also has an added advantage for newsrooms to utilize a small team to achieve significant outcomes and maximize the potential of each team member. At The Economist, journalists are able to contribute ideas and content across a wide range of issues.
The power of collaboration
Have you ever wondered why a typical story in The Economist carries no byline? The answer is simple: the paper wants its journalists to speak with one voice and work together to ensure stories are published. “The main reason for anonymity, however, is a belief that what is written is more important than who writes it,” according to a piece by The Economist that addresses the issue. Franklin said the policy also allows for collaboration among journalists and eliminates undue competition that can come with bylines.
I told Franklin about a similar practice by a Nigerian outlet, Sahara Reporters, which removes bylines to protect its journalists against attacks. However, one of my friends, a journalist, disagrees with The Economist’s approach being imported into Nigerian journalism. “You need to pay a journalist enough to buy their names,” he said, alluding to the poor payment of journalists in Nigeria.
The arguments are valid on both sides, but the possibility of collaboration without undue competition remains, for me, a compelling advantage and strong justification for this approach.
Verify it
The Economist’s research department is tasked with ensuring accuracy of facts included in copy. Headed by Chris Wilson, the team works in between the editing and publishing of a story and their tasks include verifying numbers, sources, links and other facts.
In my years in various newsrooms, I've noticed that verification is typically a role undertaken by editors. Having a dedicated team – separate from core editorial staff and not involved in editorial judgments – responsible, I found significantly reduces the likelihood of errors and bias.
This approach also keeps reporters more vigilant. For the 160-word Espresso piece I wrote, I provided seven links as references to details in the copy. Wilson was quick to note that the research process is not to hunt for errors or push blame, but to ensure that reporting is error-free. When errors slip by, the paper is quick to issue corrections.
Know your audience and how to serve them
Although The Economist is driven by its editorial values, a key ingredient of its continued success is its ability to understand its audience and continuously strategize to serve them.
“When you write, think about the dentist in New York as your typical audience,” Foreign Editor Patrick Foulis said when guiding fellow Elliott award winner, Linda Ngari, and myself on how to write for The Economist. This approach means that stories are steeped in data and analysis rather than human interest and quotes, adopting a broad view of issues rather than a narrow, individualist perspective.
The Economist takes this approach because their audience often doesn't have a personal connection to the subject being covered, and primarily seeks the key information, not the intricate details, about a given topic.
For example, a recent article about the recent protests in Kenya highlighted the political and economic reasons behind them, rather than just focusing on the casualties.
Separate the editorial from the business
The Economist occupies two floors: the editorial team resides on one and the business team on the other. Although they are in the same building, the teams operate separately, don’t hold meetings together, and are mostly unaware of the goings-on of each sub-division.
This is not new to me, as I’ve always advocated for such separation and the precedence of the editorial, a stand that has earned me a reputation as a “newsroom fundamentalist.” Although journalism needs a business model to survive and newsroom managers should continuously strategize on how to stay afloat, practitioners also need to ensure that they don’t compromise editorial ideals in pursuit of sustainability.
Several additional reflections stand out from my experience: team members always attend meetings punctually and they make constructive, intellectually stimulating arguments. Despite the "all-rounder" policy, many journalists are also experts in their fields. There is a strong sense of cooperation among everyone, but when it’s time to play, they play hard.
My two weeks were filled with learning, ideas sharing, and networking. I cherish the lessons learned and I hope to incorporate them into my practice as a journalist.
Special thanks to the Elliott family, the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), and The Economist for making this possible.
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