Stephen Quinn, our multimedia newsrooms consultant, author of the best “Convergent Journalism” manuals, writes me today from Australia:
Human being react to their environment.
Journalists need more pleasant environments in which to work.
They should not be kept in the dark and treated like mushrooms.
In the knowledge era, newsrooms need to be designed to be places that welcome innovation.
Modern newsrooms should have colour and music and potplants and natural light to show to staff that this is a place where knowledge is created and diffused.
They should be open plan to encourage communication.
They should use display walls to share information visually.
They should be like cafes which welcome discussion and debate.
They should be places where people want to go to work.
It is the job of managers to create such an environment.
