{"id":2192,"date":"2015-12-26T15:28:55","date_gmt":"2015-12-26T23:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/journalists-org-develop.go-vip.co\/newsroom\/newsroom15\/?p=939"},"modified":"2021-06-22T18:37:17","modified_gmt":"2021-06-22T22:37:17","slug":"this-story-is-a-failure-so-bake-a-cake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journalists-org-develop.go-vip.co\/newsroom\/2015\/12\/26\/this-story-is-a-failure-so-bake-a-cake\/","title":{"rendered":"This story is a failure (so bake a cake)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Fail<\/a>
Fail Fest 2015 panel. Photo courtesy of Erika Tustin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Katy Mersmann<\/strong>
\nONA Newsroom<\/p>\n

Take a deep breath. It\u2019s time to talk about failure.<\/p>\n

In the interest of full disclosure, I should admit this story is, in some ways, a failure. I set out to interview a bunch of Online News Association\u00a0attendees about their failures and produce a video featuring the stories.<\/p>\n

I got two people to talk to me.<\/p>\n

But then I went to “Fail Fest 2015: I Failed, It Sucked, But Here\u2019s How I Bounced Back” and got the reminder I needed: we all fail all the time. It\u2019s part of journalism.<\/p>\n

Panelist Kim Fox, director of social strategy at CBS Local Digital, had an interesting definition of one of her failures. She said she stretched herself too thin and became a \u201cslow car crash\u201d of exhaustion. When you\u2019re tired, things slip through the cracks, and she emphasized the importance of getting enough rest.<\/p>\n

\u201cSelf-care as a journalist is really important,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Fox also had advice for managers of\u00a0stressed-out workers, telling them to think about their employees. When managers add an assignment, they need to take something away, as well.<\/p>\n

Panelist David Cohn, executive producer at AJ+,\u00a0talked about a\u00a0project\u00a0<\/strong>that he knew from the beginning would fail. He advised journalists to listen to their guts about whether something was likely to\u00a0be successful.<\/p>\n

If not, he said, pivot what you\u2019re trying to do and make it workable.<\/p>\n

Mariana Santos, a panelist and director of interactives and design at Fusion, joked about her personal failures, times when she was awkward. But being awkward often paid off and let her get to know her coworkers better, she said.<\/p>\n

She recommended baking a cake for editors before pitching ideas. It can\u2019t hurt.<\/p>\n

And for that matter, take Fox\u2019s advice and bake a cake for yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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