Take a tip from Bryan Monroe, especially if you’re sagging from job cutbacks, buyouts, ownership changes and the general stresses of an industry in transition.
He weathered big storms over the last 12 months and survived with this advice: Take charge of your destiny.
When Monroe steps out to lead the National Association of Black Journalists Convention this week in Indianapolis, he will do so from a very different position from where he was last year when he became NABJ president in Atlanta. Then, he was assistant vice president of news at Knight Ridder, based in San Jose, Calif. This year, that company no longer exists — and he is vice president and editorial director of the Johnson Publishing Co., which publishes Ebony and Jet magazines, in Chicago.
In a telephone interview conducted shortly after his new job was announced, Monroe talked about lessons he’s learned on the road from Atlanta to Indianapolis. The edited transcript that follows is based on notes that I typed during our chat and was reviewed by Monroe.
How did your new job come about?
With the changes in Knight Ridder, it was unlikely that most of us would find roles in the new situation (McClatchy ownership). Years ago, a friend of mine said, “Never let anyone else pick your next boss for you. Take control of your destiny.”
Other situations came up — job offers that were intriguing, and flattering.
Then Linda Johnson Rice, president of the Johnson Publishing Co., reached out to me.
What did you learn from going through that change?
A lot of journalists are going through transitions — layoffs, buyouts — and they make their own choices of moving from one place to another. Times of change can be a wonderful opportunity to reinvent yourself and try something new. Change can also be scary. I was scared. That kind of growth will be uncomfortable.
It’s like when one of my children is getting a new tooth. My two kids are 5 years old and 4 years old. A new tooth can hurt and they suffer, but then it becomes part of them.
Everything that I’ve learned is a part of me. It helps me in the next step, adding new skills.
Take control of change. Don’t let it control you.
What was your career path?
I started at the University of Washington and was the first black editor of the student newspaper. I was an intern photographer at United Press International and at The Seattle Times.
My first real job was in Myrtle Beach, where I became director of design, supervising people who were 10 years older than I was. I learned about management and about myself.
I was plucked from my job and went to Miami for temporary work on a project. From there I had some job offers and went to San Jose. I was there 15 years and it was fantastic.
I met good people and learned along the way. At one point I was AME at the Mercury News and took a year to work as a general-assignment reporter and assistant city editor with the responsibility of managing five reporters. That was important for my development to becoming deputy managing editor.
I later became a Nieman Fellow and assistant vice president at Knight Ridder.
Are there other lessons from your career?
Yes. Get out of your comfort zone. Do things that are uncomfortable. Challenge yourself to do something.Speaking of challenges, look back on the events of the last 12 months.
It has been an amazing 12 months. I couldn’t have imagined it, but I believe that God doesn’t put more on you than you can bear.
Last July I was elected NABJ president and at the end of the convention a student member died of malaria. The next day, John H. Johnson (president of the Johnson Publication Co.) died and I flew to Chicago for his funeral.
On Aug. 29 I jumped on a plane with a team from Knight Ridder headed to Biloxi, Miss., to help the staff of The Sun Herald (then a Knight Ridder paper), which was in the path of Hurricane Katrina. We flew into Montgomery, Ala., got an SUV, supplies and cash and went through the storm, driving on I-65 to Mobile, Ala., then on I-10 to Biloxi.
Why did you go?
I experienced Hurricane Hugo in Myrtle Beach earlier in my career and I knew they would need some help in Biloxi. Nobody at Knight Ridder gave any push-back, so a team went — including folks from Macon, Ga.; Charlotte, N.C. and San Jose, Calif. I was so honored to be a part of that team.
We ran into so much just trying to get to Biloxi. A bridge was out and we saw all kind of things. Some wanted to stop to tell stories, but I kept telling them, “We’re not there yet.”
When we got to the Sun Herald, the first person to greet me with a bear hug was Stan Tiner. Tiner and Ricky Mathews and the whole team were the real heroes.
We came in, but they had to live there.
A few weeks later we learned that a major investor was challenging Knight Ridder. Months of speculation followed about the company’s future.
NABJ also ran into struggles during the year.
In March, NABJ’s executive director resigned because of management issues. We moved quickly and found an interim executive director. Within 90 days we conducted a search and named a new executive director.
An announcement in early July told of your move to Johnson Publishing Co. Why did you decide to accept the company’s job offer?
Johnson Publishing Co. offers a great opportunity to address an untapped market and a great opportunity for using the Internet. Jet is a weekly voice; Ebony is a monthly voice; we could have a daily voice on the Internet.
What do you expect in moving from newspapers to magazines?
I don’t know what I don’t know. I hope to learn about their deadlines and style, but the raw materials haven’t changed. Both media have the same tools: writing, design, stories and selection of topics.
The biggest difference is between the San Jose Mercury News, where I worked for years, and Ebony and Jet, where there is a great legacy and a great history.
John H. Johnson built the magazines on quality, mostly telling the story of black America. Ebony played a great role in the Civil Rights Movement and it’s useful in exploring the black family, looking at finance and entertainment.
Johnson said the entertainment is the orange juice that makes the news, the Caster Oil, go down.
Richard Prince’s article on your new position noted that several leading African-American journalists are moving to black media. Why did you decide to make the move?
It was an amazing opportunity to take a historical set of publications and help lead them into the future. What black person doesn’t know about Ebony and Jet? A friend of mine once said: “You can be in The New York Times or The Washington Post, but, if you are black, you haven’t arrived until you’ve been in “The Jet.”
Any other thoughts on what you hope to achieve at Johnson Publishing?
I am fortunate to have such an experienced staff working for us at Ebony and Jet. I will learn a lot from them. But we will also be looking at ways to improve the quality of writing and photography, as well as making both magazines more urgent and newsy.
I am so excited about this new opportunity. I’ve spent 19 years in newspapers preparing.
