News organizations will support product leadership

There is no longer a specialty market for news product management. Over the past three years, businesses of varying sizes have embraced approaches from the technology industry by establishing product roles and teams. Additionally, the community of supporters of the News Product Alliance has expanded to include more than three thousand individuals. NPA members have been able to advocate for themselves and gain new product management jobs as a result of their participation in training courses and engagement with a community of change agents who share similar values and perspectives.

Through my participation in the NPA community, I was able to give a name to the fact that I was working on product-related projects, which in turn led to my gaining more knowledge about this aspect of the industry. An individual who is a part of our group shared their experience by saying, “I was able to advocate for myself at my organization and ask for a title shift to product manager.”

On the other hand, in order to successfully undertake transformation, there is a requirement for more institutional support and an increased awareness of product management as a discipline. A recent community survey conducted by the National Press Association (NPA) found that more than seventy percent of respondents said that news organizations do not give adequate resources and support for news product efforts. Only 10% of respondents stated that their news organization has product roles on an editorial team, which is often the most powerful team in a news organization. This is despite the fact that the majority of respondents stated that their news organization has a product team.

People who are able to draw the dots between technology, journalism, and business are known as news product thinkers. These individuals are also able to drive strategic decision-making about the organization’s limited time and resources, and they are able to offer quantifiable business results by systematically focusing on the demands of the audience.

In contrast to technology, however, product is still a relatively new discipline within the digital news ecosystem. This is despite the progress that has been accomplished. There is no clear definition of what constitutes a healthy news product operation, nor is there a roadmap to become one. Teams and responsibilities appear and function differently in each and every news company.