Ethar El-Katatney (’25) Reflects on Week One
“I want to make sure I make the most of it,” Documented EIC says.
February 4, 2025
MTC Knight Fellow Ethar El-Katatney (’25) earned her journalism bona fides in Cairo, Egypt, before the revolution there motivated her move to the United States. After a decade in roles at AJ+, The Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg, she joined Documented, a non-profit newsroom dedicated to reporting with and for immigrant communities in New York City, the day after the election.
Benjamin: How did you get to MTC?
Ethar: I know a bunch of alumni, like Emma [Patti] and Saeed Ahmed from last year. And I’m on the Online News Association Board, and a bunch of people there [are alumni]. So, it’s always been on my radar. Everything I’d heard about MTC was that it’s all about tools you can use and reuse throughout your career.
I was on my way from New York to Istanbul when [Executive Director Charlie Baum] asked me to draft my challenge. I hadn’t slept in 36 hours. I wrote it in the lounge.
What I wrote was, basically, “How do I evolve our newsroom to become more news-responsive, and less of a features-oriented newsroom to cover the upcoming administration in the ways only we can.”
So that’s everything from working with reporters, improving workflows and processes, and engaging deeper with our core audiences about their needs.
BW: What was your impression when you first sat down at Poynter?
EE:
I think my first impression was how open and receptive everybody was.
Starting with the cohort that just finished is great marketing; you come in a little bit cautious, so seeing, ‘All right, [the outgoing class] seem happy,’ was nice. It was also a little bit intimidating, because you’re like, ‘Damn, now I gotta do something!’ You have to have results and wins.
I was pleasantly surprised at the diversity of organizations and geographies. It was more local than I thought it would be.
BW: Which tools landed for you as you move through the week?
EE: I found reframing things that a lot of us may already be doing is the most useful. It’s not like I’ve never done a North Star, right? But being forced to write one as a three-part statement, or really focus on Activities… I do so many activities, but am I connecting it to like, outputs and outcomes?
I like From/To and Design/Do. I like to have plans for everything before I start executing. So, Design/Do was good to be like, ‘Actually, no; we can get started and do some things. Just go and fail and move on.’ You don’t have to wait until you have your 12 months of documentation.
And I like working with Assumptions.
BW: How would you characterize the From/To of your first week?
EE: I’m typically a person who doesn’t like to have any expectations. So, I came from neutral to hopeful. I keep thinking about it in my mind like when you go bowling and you have guard rails. I know I want to get a strike, and MTC will help me.
BW: Plus, a pro coach, better shoes, and a faster ball. How has your early experience been with Stefan?
EE: We had a good first call. He’s very open. He set a comfortable, safe space – a very American terminology.
BW: That can be so important. And is, in a lot of ways, the magic behind this thing: the more vulnerable you are – not just with who you are as a person, but with what’s happening inside – the more useful it is for you and everybody. Most institutions don’t talk like that.
EE: It’s true, and I think for a room of very high-achieving individuals, this is probably one of the things that a lot of us will struggle with.
He asked, ‘How do you like to work?’ I was always a student who procrastinated and then pulled out an excellent paper the night before class. So, I think having that weekly accountability – especially in a role where I push everyone – will be nice. I’ll be in a position where I have someone in my corner who’s like, ‘Well, these are the things you were going to do this week. Did you do them?’ Versus a quarterly check-in or something.
So, I’m optimistic and hopeful about the experience. You will get out of it what you put into it, right? This is a new role, and a very important year. I want to make sure I make the most of it.