{"id":5958,"date":"2023-08-26T12:25:45","date_gmt":"2023-08-26T16:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/journalists-org-develop.go-vip.co\/newsroom\/?p=5958"},"modified":"2023-08-26T12:35:29","modified_gmt":"2023-08-26T16:35:29","slug":"news-product-thinkers-develop-new-career-pathways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journalists-org-develop.go-vip.co\/newsroom\/2023\/08\/26\/news-product-thinkers-develop-new-career-pathways\/","title":{"rendered":"News product thinkers develop new career pathways"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As journalism adapted to the digital age, news product roles emerged in the mid-1990s. These roles combine the ethics of journalism, the business of news organizations and audience needs, according to the News Product Alliance<\/a> (NPA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They work across teams, including reporters, audience, advertisers and developers, to make sure the organization is providing the best experience for their audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome will say news is the product,\u201d said Shannan Bowen, the executive director of the North Carolina Local News Workshop. \u201cI think the experience is the product. News is what people are getting through that experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As product roles expand in news organizations, news product professionals are working to define training, certification and newsroom positions to better integrate product work into newsrooms and establish career pathways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe now understand that part of our job is to develop the content, distribute the content, but also to create an experience of what the audience’s interaction with our content is,\u201d said Feli Carrique, the executive director of NPA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pathway to product work<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Many people who do product work don\u2019t start out in product early in their career. Product managers can come from many places, like audience positions or editorial roles leading a technical project. Often, those doing product work may not have an official product title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of the [product] behaviors are pretty reasonable and newsrooms would say they support it,\u201d said Jeremy Bowers, the global chief technology officer at POLITICO. \u201cThe actual role has not existed and does not really exist. It\u2019s basically defined by a handful of people who are doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because product is a new discipline, many entry-level product jobs are only starting to emerge. Madison Karas, a product manager at the Baltimore Banner, began her career in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt fortunate that her graduation coincided with the Banner\u2019s launch, which included a product team with junior product managers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf that position hadn’t been opened, I would have expanded into some other product-adjacent role,\u201d Karas said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

News product roles require an understanding of the function of many different departments in a news organization, which can be difficult to do for those early in their career, said Becky Bowers, the vice president of product development at the Philadelphia Inquirer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou are expected to be a leader and an organizer and someone who has very high emotional intelligence and the ability to collaborate across different teams and to roll with a lot of challenging situations and change management,\u201d Becky Bowers said. \u201cIt’s a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Training for a product career pivot<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As product jobs expand, those in product roles need training to help improve their skills, including areas like user experience design, audience research, and subscriptions. These trainings serve two purposes \u2014 strengthening candidates for product jobs and introducing more journalists to the discipline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had exposure to a lot of different roles in journalism through some of my prior fellowships and internships \u2026 I got to a point that was like, once you start thinking about the entire system and workflow, how things work, you can’t really stop,\u201d Karas said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of the training that goes into news product work can come from doing work in the field, but support organizations like NPA hope to provide training<\/a> that doesn\u2019t come from traditional avenues, such as college programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is no product degree,\u201d Carrique said. \u201cThat does not exist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The future of product work<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While entry-level product positions are beginning to emerge, those looking to pivot to product roles report that they often lack guidance on how to do so. A survey of the News Product Alliance\u2019s Mentor Network said more than 30 percent of emerging product thinkers struggle with navigating career changes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bowen said product thinkers in the middle of their careers need guidance in order to step into newsroom leadership with a product mindset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“At any kind of news organization, we need product thinkers who are helping to create a product culture throughout the organization,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While training in product concepts can help those looking to transition into the discipline, it can only go so far without buy-in from news organizations to invest in product roles, Carrique said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCreating career pathways is an all-of-us work,\u201d Carrique said. \u201cIt’s the work that we all need to do in our organizations and collectively, to offer that space for newcomers to the discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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