Angela Pacienza is the Executive Editor at The Globe and Mail, where she’s responsible for delivering quality, audience-first journalism, as well as driving culture change to create a more nimble, inclusive and forward-thinking newsroom. Angela has oversight over programming and audience teams across all platforms, as well as the editing, podcast and visual departments. She’s passionate about closing the gap between storytelling and audience, as well as devising new approaches to digital, print and visual journalism. Angela is a graduate of the Online News Association’s Women’s Leadership Accelerator program (2018) and a mentor with Digital Women Leaders. She currently sits on the board of directors for the Canadian Journalism Foundation and the Online News Association. She first got involved with ONA as a volunteer stuffing delegate bags at ONA07.
Angela’s vision for the future of digital journalism
Digital disruption continues at break-neck speed, and as an industry, we have struggled. We’ve resisted change. Forgotten our core mission. Ignored our readers’ wants.
That said, our industry has also shown incredible resilience and forward-thinking so I remain hopeful.
Here are some things I’d love to see as we build our future:
-Invest time, money and energy developing the next generation of newsroom staff and leaders so they can build a new, sustainable culture for digital journalism, one that is open, attentive and diverse. And not just because it’s trendy.
-We’re already starting to see a new, more progressive era of community, both inside and outside the newsroom. But it will slip by if we don’t strengthen our foundation and build out reader-supported media outlets.
-Build lasting relationships with our audience. We’ve seen some great examples but they remain outliers and not the norm.
-Before we can get the audience to trust us, we have to trust each other. That means coaching, mentoring, actively listening and taking chances on people and ideas. Especially if they’re different from the ones we are used to. We can’t keep doing things the same way and expect a different outcome.
-Whether it’s with tech giants, non-profits, or each other, the future will require better, more transparent collaborations in order to meet our audience’s needs.
-Protect independent journalism from interference by government or its agencies.
Much of my journalism career has been focused driving culture change to create more nimble, inclusive and forward thinking newsrooms. I’ve been particularly focused on women in leadership roles, especially retention at the management level.
I’ve been fortunate to be involved with ONA since 2007. Since finding this community, I’ve had the opportunity to meet and learn from so many people, as well as share my learnings. When I participated in ONA’s Women’s Accelerator Program in 2018, I focused on inclusion and its positive effects on news coverage and audience growth (ie subscriptions). Since then, so much has changed in our world and ONA has been there to support and champion this industry.
ONA is truly a collaborative organization that works together to amplify, inspire and lift each other up. I wouldn’t be where I am in my career without the support and learnings from ONA programs. I would be honoured, and work hard to support and strengthen ONA’s core mission if elected to the board.
Thanks for your consideration.