Dr. Kortni (00:00)
Welcome to the Compassionate Newsroom podcast. I'm Dr. Courtney Alston-Lemon. I'm a former television reporter and news director turned happiness scholar. I train news leaders and journalists internationally to foster workplace well-being, resilience, and a positive culture in their newsrooms.
Every week I'll bring you evidence-based strategies and inspiring interviews from news leaders, journalists, and experts worldwide who prioritize the mental health of their teams and themselves. Let's redefine what it means to lead with compassion in journalism, one episode at a time.
Dr. Kortni Alston (00:39)
Welcome to the premiere episode of the Compassionate Newsroom.
Can you tell I'm excited? I'm Dr. Courtney. I am thrilled. I am so thrilled to guide you through exploring compassion in news, a concept that I truly believe will revolutionize how we work today. Well, we're going to set the stage of what it means to build a compassionate newsroom, why it matters and how we can transform.
truly transform the experiences of not just your newsroom, but you as a leader. A compassionate newsroom isn't just nice to have or, you know, it's really essential for the sustainability of our profession. I am a former television reporter, news director, turn happiness scholar.
When I was working as a news director, I started to work on my MBA. And the reason why I did that is because I wanted to make sure that I was always getting training to really help build and support my team. And then the whisper came into my ear of so many people saying, you should get your PhD. And I'm like, get my PhD. I said no.
Clearly, clearly that that I clearly didn't follow through with that, right? I now have my PhD proudly from the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communication and decided to be an outlier in my program and not focus in on being a communication scholar, but leveraging my MBA and also now my area research, which I discovered in my PhD program, which is positive psychology.
to help the industry. I knew I wanted to be a public scholar because I wanted to be able to share information with the industry and being able to really help teams, newsrooms, news leaders, supporting them, supporting journalists, reporters. So I truly value this journey. And I will say that
When we go through all the different elements of the Compassionate Newsroom throughout this podcast is really all about supporting you. It's a place where the culture actively supports its members. And it's through challenging the way we see work and then also identifying suffering, struggles at work.
Compassionate, well, newsrooms are compassion when it comes down to work. It's also based in science. Yes, it is evidence-based. And two of the scholars that truly inspire me, doctors Monica Worline and Jane Dutton, are organizational scholars. And their research focus is on compassionate workplace and compassionate workplaces and how
They help support teams and also how it helps build innovation. They're also the authors of a book called Awakening Compassion at Work, the quiet power that elevates people and organizations. Well, I will tell you, this podcast is about unleashing that power and making lots of noise. And Worley and Dutton tell us that compassion
It's more than just simply an emotion. It is a desire to alleviate suffering. And they define it in four parts. First, they say you have to notice the suffering. It begins with awareness. In a compassionate newsroom, we need to train ourselves and our teams to notice when people or someone is suffering or struggling, whether it's stress.
an assignment, personal loss, vicarious trauma, burnout. Sadly, the list can go on and on, but it's so important that we identify and make sure that we are providing levels of support. Another is make or making, I should say, meaning. We then seek to understand these struggles.
right, in the context that promotes empathy. Because empathy is really key. Rather than judgment is interesting because I am certified in mental health first aid. And one of the things that we're trained in is making sure when we are talking to an individual that we don't judge. And I love this because it's so important that whoever we're talking to
especially a person that is suffering, that they feel seen, safe, and supported. Now this means creating an environment where people feel safe. That psychological safety is so important. This will allow them to share their experiences and also feel that they're in a space where they can trust to be vulnerable.
Another is empathetic concern. This is the true heartbeat of a newsroom. To me, it's the strongest. It's really perspective taking. And it's interesting. It's also the value of listening. You're going to learn elements of these things throughout the podcast. Matter of fact, we have Dr. Karen Ladley.
who is the Senior Associate Director of mental health programs, specifically the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health and Journalism. And she speaks about that in an episode coming up, episode four. And it's really says so much in terms of the importance of
As she mentioned, it's not simply, you know, listening to respond. Think about that. Not simply listening to respond, but giving that person an opportunity to truly be heard, to truly be seen. The next is taking action. And taking action, well, this isn't just about policies and programs.
It's really about everyday behavior that fosters support and really cultivates a supportive workplace. It's about leaders who model vulnerability. Think about that. What does that look like to you? Teams that celebrate each other's successes and systems, systems that prioritize mental health and wellbeing.
Coming up in episode two, you're gonna have a chance to meet Kerwin Spate. And Kerwin is extraordinary. He talks about the value of being centered in terms of wellbeing. He talks about some many of the best practices that he cultivated in his leadership approach in newsrooms. And now Kerwin is...
broadcast faculty over at the Poynter Institute. He is extraordinary. And episode three, Marie Torres, she'll also help you in terms of understanding the value of compassion because I will tell you, I knew when I started the Compassionate Newsroom podcast, I had to interview her like as soon as possible because Marie exudes compassion.
and she's a managing editor at Spectrum. So those episodes are all a part of our launch, which I'm looking forward to you diving in and learning from these incredible leaders that I'm so grateful to call my friends. They're incredible. But remember, it all begins with you. Not just simply serving as a leader, but as I mentioned, as a former news director myself,
Understanding the Importance of Self-Compassion. Another incredible scholar that I greatly admire, her name is Dr. Christian Niff. She is one of the leading scholars, one of the pioneers as it comes to self-compassion. And I love how she defines it. It's about treating yourself with kindness. I kindness. The same kindness
that we share with others, we need to share it in terms of ourselves is giving the same kindness and support that you would give a friend. I call it being your own bestie. That can be hard, right? When you are facing challenges at work as a manager and thinking about all of the things that you're trying to accomplish and also serving your team.
but it's so important to make sure that you give yourself grace and that you practice self-compassion. This podcast is all about inspiring you with models to replicate, but it's also about supporting you, supporting you every step of the way. You may be new in terms of management. You may be a veteran manager. Just know that I'm here to help.
It is my greatest passion to serve news. I fell in love with news when I was seven years old and knew, knew I was going to be a journalist. So know this, that today's discussion is just the beginning. It's just the beginning in a series of discussions that we're going to have as relates to the Compassionate Newsroom podcast. We'll explore specific strategies. You'll hear from voices.
across the industry and they're going to share what they've implemented as compassionate practices in their work environments and the impact that it's had. Also the podcast, we have a website and I'm really proud of it. You can find it at the compassionate newsroom.com. That's the compassionate, the compassionate newsroom.com.
And it provides a way for you to search episodes, but it also houses resources. And we're going to continue to build off that website with resources. We're going to map out all of the great resources that are coming in from all of the different speakers. We'll have experts, news leaders, right? And reporters. So this is just.
the beginning and I am so, so excited. It's been an incredible journey to be able to launch this with you. So thank you for joining me on this journey to build more compassionate newsrooms together. Together, we're going to transform news into a force
on workplace wellbeing. And we're gonna do it one act of kindness at a time.
Dr. Kortni (13:22)
Thanks for tuning into the Compassionate Newsroom podcast. Together we can transform workplace wellbeing in news. If you found value in today's episode, please share it with a colleague to help foster a supportive environment in the industry. And don't forget to subscribe and also visit our website for more resources at thecompassionatenewsroom.com.
