Bob Giles Speech

Before more money is spent on newspaper training, newspaper industry shareholders need to see a direct link between training and profits, said the curator of Harvard University’s Nieman Foundation for journalists Monday night.
“Corporate executives surely must understand that a well-trained, well-educated newsroom workforce is essential in sustaining their economic viability,” said Robert Giles, a graduate of DePauw University, who spoke at the semi-annual Reed Sarratt Distinguished Lecture in Carroll Hall at the University.
Giles previously held the title of senior vice president of The Freedom Forum, an international foundation dedicated to freedom of speech and of the press.
The Nieman Foundation focuses on mid-career professional fellowship for journalists and, along with other organizations, has noticed “a puzzling lack of commitment” in the professional development of journalists, said Giles.
Giles noted that today’s stage is set with 191 organizations that provide training, but that such a large number was misleading.
“The training and education programs many of these organizations offer are modest, and collectively, they fall far short of meeting the need,” he said in critique of the widespread belief that professional development resources and efforts were sufficient.
Only three in 10 journalists today get proper training, Giles said. He compared this to the one in 10 that received proper training in 1993, according to the “No Train, No Gain” study conducted by Freedom Forum.
Much of the reason for the lack of newspaper-room training is the unmoving budget in the newsroom. And when the budget comes into question, training budgets are the first to be cut, said Giles.
Even though newspapers are rich and profitable, companies still are hesitant to dish out money for training, spending only 0.7 percent of payroll on training, said Giles. Workforce Magazine recommends 3 to 6 percent.
According to a recent study by the American Society for Training and Development, 575 public companies were ranked in order of highest to lowest in-house training. Shareholder return was 86 percent higher for those companies ranked on the higher half of the listing.
“No Train, No Gain” concluded that the three main problems that exist in the newsroom are newspaper quality, newsroom morale and employee retention.
Newspaper quality depends on the value of its stories. “The public fears that journalists don’t know enough,” said Giles. Companies’ shrinking budgets result in the shrinking of newsgathering resources—not a higher quality of writing.
“[There is] a direct and undeniable link between training and retention,” Giles quoted from a colleague.
According to a study done by the Poynter Institute, employees wanted skills training, education in ethics, values, and legal issues, education in content, and professional development to be offered in-house.
The demand for such training only further supports the widely held belief that investment in human capital is the soundest strategy. Giles said, “It remains a mystery then why news organizations don’t put a higher premium on training and education.”