When we talk about why the news business is losing exactly the kinds of people who can help it thrive (and what contributes to burnout), this needs to be part of the conversation. It mirrors the experience of so many https://source.opennews.org/articles/exit-interviews-phoebe-gavin/

"My recommendations were almost always met with polite acknowledgements that never turned into action." https://source.opennews.org/articles/exit-interviews-phoebe-gavin/

These are the experiences of so many who are no longer on the bench, and the reason news orgs are just now finding it hard to attract the kind of new leaders they know they need

This gets to a part of the NYT diversity report that was so, so, so on target:

"Success and belonging at The Times are guided by a set of complex, unwritten rules."
and "A narrow view of excellence limits our ability to benefit from difference."

This is true across legacy publications, especially the "narrow view of excellence."

The narrow view of excellence, in which career success is defined narrowly as well, is a primary cause of this loss of talent

A little example of one way a "narrow view of excellence" can play out. Around the time NYT released its diversity report and the news org I work for, @PhillyInquirer, released its content audit, Marty Baron was retiring from the Washington Post

In his going away story, this highly placed paragraph struck me https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/marty-baron-jeff-bezos-trump-washington-post/2021/02/27/5d796a9c-7871-11eb-9537-496158cc5fd9_story.html

Anyone who has worked in a legacy newsroom probably knows that one of the rules, unwritten or otherwise, has been that editors are expected to cultivate this particular skill above lots of other ones

It's an important and useful skill, but as the news business has changed, most newsrooms haven't stopped to ask if it's a skill that is overvalued in terms of who can be a credible and effective newsroom leader

(Also from a recently former editor who got pretty good at this skill precisely because it was clearly over-indexed for, and seemed the best path to success in my newsrooms)

I once knew a fabulously talented editor-type who wanted to advance in the newsroom as an editor. She had creative ideas, the ability to frame a story for the right audience, collaborated across departments and could project manage those creative ideas into reality

A masthead editor told me she couldn't advance as an editor because she wasn't a line editor. She was never offered training as a line editor, either, as far as I know

The fabulously talented editor-type, who had lots of skills modern newsrooms need but aren't as valued as being able to pluck a lead from the 10th paragraph of a text-based story, is no longer in journalism