My ten lessons in media leadership at RFE/RL

I recently left my role leading innovation at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, leaving behind the unique privilege of lead the digital innovation of very diverse newsrooms in Asia and Europe. I’m really proud of the work done and the lessons we have learned. As I prepared to leave earlier this year, I wrote down a few lessons that I would pass on to anyone working in similar roles. 

Much of my work at RFE/RL centered on countering the wrecking of public spaces by increasingly advanced and assertive autocracies. While often uniquely grim, I have found that the challenges we face aren’t at the heart much different from those of other newsrooms in relatively open societies: the authority and privileges of media institutions are gradually vanishing, and the performative aspects of broadcasting are gradually but irreversibly ineffective. 

So what’s next for such large media organizations? There’s no simple answer, but I am hopeful that such newsrooms will continue to serve as incubators of great talent, especially in markets in which monetization of independent media is incredibly challenging or next to impossible. 

The success could be measured in the number of journalists these organizations have mentored in listening with an open mind, in challenging assumptions, in enforcing fairness and advancing empathy, in uncovering new information and telling stories collaboratively, and in understanding and steering a public conversation on an issue that otherwise would not be discussed. 

I’ll keep working on this with other newsrooms and started a newsletter, Unfiltered, to continue to challenge myself to reflect on how media could evolve. A version of these lessons appeared in its first edition a few weeks ago. I hope some of these points can help others working in similar roles navigate this disruptive moment that is so deeply disorienting. Please do get in touch if you have feedback or your own to share. 

Lesson 1: Strategy isn’t just a fancy word; it’s a really tough job

Journalism schools excel in teaching the more creative parts of media: content creation and distribution tactics. So many newsrooms are now led by former editors trained like me in content creation, and so many of us tend to look to content as the cure-all to greater relevance. But what’s missing is often strategy and strategy needs training, coaching, structure and experience; and then it requires tons of time and energy to listen and communicate. If you get it right, the teams are aligned in their understanding of the outside world, the organization’s aspirations, and how they can contribute. If you don’t, they will muddle and set their own goals, and your best talent will move on. The vibrancy we now see at many of RFE/RL’s bureaus comes from investing time in establishing a shared understanding of why and how we work. Looking at you, Chișinău. 

Lesson 2: You need audience ambassadors

The hardest part of newsroom management is creating the conditions in which everyone can feel both safe and ambitious about pursuing shared goals. When nothing is certain, you need a culture that allows for shared exploration. It’s not me versus you; it’s our venture against the odds of success. That requires people in bridge roles who can continuously build an evolving consensus on what is happening and what needs to be done, representing the audience. Setting up a News Products team transformed our approach, helping our journalism increasingly align with audience needs rather than individual (often legitimate and reasonable) editorial or technological agendas. This has been nothing short of a game changer because the challenge has become a shared one. 

Lesson 3: Community and belonging often transcend geography

Relevant, locally-rooted media is important and in dire need. But... there are also so many non-functional needs- , identity- and values-based media opportunities that can transcend geographical identities to build on as foundations for new media ventures. RFE/RL’s great migrant team's persistent efforts in community building have been instrumental in exploring these new avenues, but it’s really, really hard! Also, community building and co-creation are a lot of work that goes far beyond engagement-baiting (The “Like, Comment, Share!” frames really need to go away.).

Lesson 4: There’s untapped potential in remote reporting

The scope for OSINT and other forms of remote reporting is vast, particularly for exile media. There’s an opportunity to leverage these skills on a far greater scale, not just in covering the vitally important stories of war and crime but across various beats, including healthcare and education. Can we provide comparative information on hospital quality (incl. corruption) across China? Can we track fertilizer price inflation or harvests remotely for farming communities in Afghanistan? There is a ton of opportunity if the focus of journalistic work is more firmly centered on news utility. 

Lesson 5: Safety first, quality journalism follows

Psychological and physical safety are non-negotiable prerequisites to good journalism—internally in terms of newsroom and corporate culture and externally in terms of how the organization responds to outside threats. To tackle safety, it’s so important to acknowledge that one is never really safe. Once there’s a shared understanding that one can only reduce risks and that there is a shared commitment to doing so, a lot can be done. J-schools: obligatory digital security training (for journalists’, sources’ and audiences’ sake) should really be part of your syllabi. Tech stack vendors: what can you do better to keep sources, journalists and audiences safe? There may be a competitive advantage. 

Lesson 6: Audience research should go lean

The shift from traditional broadcasting to digital media and now to whatever comes next requires a new approach to understanding opportunities and a reset in expectations on measuring success. Design research needs to go mainstream, but left on its own, it has stumbled. It can only make a difference if it is meaningfully paired with strategy first and then product-level execution. Greater data literacy, data skepticism and lean data approaches to goal setting can do a ton of good (especially for funders—you incentivize behavior). It may just require some more courage to seek insights and not holistic certainty in increasingly patchy data. 

Lesson 7: There is so much to learn from marketing, but it needs to be navigated with integrity

Especially when shared on ad-funded platforms, I’ve seen how often digital marketing can become a double-edged sword for media, creating relatively cheap and low-effort illusions of reach and impact that can prove fatal over the long term. It's so essential to align content with value proposition, as my colleague Luka Ghughunishvili, who is now building RFE/RL’s marketing department, always emphasizes. I am really excited about the strides we've made in marketing strategy, implementing smart market segmentation by market access that could become a model for other public media. 

Lesson 8: Shared learning and shared aspirations

The RFE/RL Academy project has taught me how organically a community can be built around shared aspirations. It also taught me how shared learning practices can go a long way in signaling institutional investment in people, making them more eager to stay, adapt, and attract new talent. There will be success, accolades and social impact if reporters feel that their work is better because other colleagues contribute to their success in a sophisticated distribution of labor. Again, this is what legacy media can and should be: incubators of diverse talent and socializers of a division of labor in media.

Lesson 9: Rituals are a resilience tool

Community is an antidote to adversity. If you manage change that is really hard and not immediately tangible, establish rituals that document and celebrate the incremental collective progress made (and the mistakes averted). In this way, shared memories are gradually created, and a community can form. While this may happen organically, it really needs to be intentional, genuine and never feel “corporate” to succeed. 

Lesson 10: Prepare for your departure from day one

Newsroom management is often about tough choices, often with no ideal outcomes. It is always controversial, and it should be because it has consequences for who gets to speak and who doesn’t, what is discussed and what is not. Naturally, not all plans will work out and not everyone will be on board. I’m so lucky I weathered my storms. What these have taught me, though, is that it pays to always, from day one in the job, think about what will happen when you’re no longer there and coach the likely next generation to lead effectively. They will be stewards of cultural transformation when you’re still there and will outgrow you, which is the best outcome imaginable.