Things won’t look like they’re running smoothly from the outside unless you’ve got things working behind the scenes. Here we’ve collected some resources that will help you streamline your operations, and set up strong foundations for your newsroom.
HR for newsrooms
Whether you’re preparing to hire your newsroom’s first journalist, or working with a large team of staff, HR can be a difficult realm to navigate. Here are some resources LINA provides to help problem-solve, address challenges, and set up strong HR policies to create a supportive and productive working environment. This includes free, on-demand HR support from our partners at Nurture HR Consulting.
Are you starting your newsroom from scratch?
Check out our Newsroom Starter Kit, a comprehensive guide with resources and tips from those who’ve been there before!
Policy templates
Save some time: the templates below can be downloaded and adapted to suit your newsroom. See them as a starting point to prompt your newsroom policies.
The below Privacy Policy Template is intended to provide guidance to news publishers on the key principles and concepts of Privacy for their news service users.
The below Risk Management Policy Template provides an outline to help publishers develop their own Risk Management Policy. You will need to consider your publication’s particular circumstances, as well as common risks for media organisations including allegations of copyright infringement or defamation claims.
The following Emergency Action Plan is intended to provide guidance for business related information that news publishers will need close to hand in the event of a major disruption or emergency event. It includes suggestions for how to continue reporting on the event as it happens, if it is safe to do so.
We’ve developed a Board Skills Matrix template to use and adapt as you see fit. See explanatory notes on the second tab outlining how to fill it in – and you can adjust the ranking, too. The table will average out the responses to give you an indication of which areas are strongest across the Board, and which you might want to focus on when recruiting new members.
The following Complaint Handling Policy template is intended to provide guidance to publishers on the key principles and concepts of an effective and efficient complaint management protocol.
Discounts
Cut down on operational costs for your newsroom—LINA members can receive a number of discounts on useful tools, platforms and products, thanks to our partners.
Useful tools and resources
There are many tools and resources available online that are completely free, or have a free basic service (freemium). We’ve compiled an extensive list that might be useful for journalists and newsroom managers.