SuperVision

Victor Hernandez tells me he hasn't slept much the past few days as he and other CNN managers coordinate coverage of Gustav and the GOP convention. He's accustomed to that kind of schedule, from his tenure as Director of Coverage for CNN US. Hernandez was recently tapped to develop CNN's new All Platform Journalism efforts (the deployment of backpack journalists), with the title APJ Project Manager. But as the storm approached, Victor shifted his attention to the breaking story. Victor's a Poynter alum who has served as visiting faculty and as a Poynter Ethics Fellow. I e-mailed questions to him, looking for insights into CNN's coverage.

I'm writing this post in a beautiful conference center in Frederiksdal, Denmark. Large windows overlook the water, where canoes, ducks and swans paddle by. The Danish meals are both wonderful and bountiful; well worth the workouts I'll have to do in penance.

Kenny Irby, Kelly McBride and I are winding down a week of teaching in The Poynter Sommerskole. This summer school is designed for Scandinavian reporters, visual journalists and newsroom managers. Fortunately for the faculty, the participants are fluent in English -- often one of several languages they speak. 

Kelly's been teaching reporting and ethical decision-making. Her focus has been effective storytelling on any platform and thoughtful processes for connecting with communities. Kenny's handled multi-media storytelling, online advances, visual thinking and diversity. As always, he's a champion for visual thinking across the entire news organization, not just those whose titles include the words photo, video or design. 

I've tackled the hot supervision topics: conflict resolution, collaboration, and the management of change, time and even bosses.

I'm celebrating a pretty cool anniversary. In August, I hit the 10-year mark at Poynter, teaching leadership and management to journalists from around the world.

I love sharing ideas from leadership research and theory. But just as important, I teach from the personal experience of one who was launched into newsroom management many years ago, at the tender age of 27. I had no training, no guidebook. I tell classes that I teach from all my mistakes. With that inventory, I figure I can go another decade without running out of material!

Here's a gift -- a good news update from the world of journalism.

The problem: Back in 2002, the Asian American Journalists Association released a study documenting the underrepresentation Asian-American men in television news. Women outnumbered men in newsrooms and in journalism school classrooms, too.

The volunteers: A team of AAJA members, men and women led by Randall Yip, a TV news producer at KGO in San Francisco. They decided to take on the challenge by using the power of what they know best -- visual storytelling.