Why I quit my job to launch the News Product Alliance
Like many people, the pandemic has forced me to re-evaluate my career. As I watched fellow journalists struggle to work from home, be furloughed, laid off or asked to work double-time, I’ve sensed a growing unease among my peers that the pandemic might be the last straw that causes the entire news industry to come tumbling down. That’s why I left my job to help build The News Product Alliance, a global community for news product professionals.
The news industry’s downfall has been decades in the making. The Internet changed the distribution equation, gradually eroding the traditional newspaper model as it lost parts of its core utility — weather, classifieds, comics, movie times, etc. — to online services with better experiences. Newsrooms have been left with the only product that no one else can create better than they can: Tell the best stories of our time to hold power to account.
Product thinkers — those with the abilities to align editorial, audience, technology and business goals — have become the missing link to creating sustainable journalism in the digital age.
Journalists have been forced to ask the existential questions every product manager has to ask: What is the problem we’re solving with our product? Whose needs do we serve? And how do we connect the two? Product thinkers — those with the abilities to align editorial, audience, technology and business goals — have become the missing link to creating sustainable journalism in the digital age.
That’s why TODAY we’re launching the News Product Alliance, a community of support and practice for news product professionals and product thinkers. We all need allies: People who share our mission to create a sustainable future for the news industry, understand both the emotional labor and practical skills that we contribute, and will help us succeed. While there are a variety of organizations working to support the digital transformation of news organizations, none directly support the individuals and teams doing this challenging work within.
As someone who had the honor and privilege of working at two of the most innovative and financially successful nonprofit newsrooms in the world, Chalkbeat and The Texas Tribune, I’ve seen first-hand what it takes to build a sustainable, digital-first news organization.
Successful news organizations rely on individuals who help them continually align their editorial, audience, technology and revenue goals to maintain a sustainable business model. These individuals help the organization develop healthy team practices, incorporate expertise from a variety of voices, make effective decisions, follow-through on execution in a timely manner and adapt when circumstances change. They are product thinkers, and they are who the News Product Alliance intends to serve.
While news product managers take lessons from other industries, they will benefit from a community that understands their unique needs. As news product managers, we must hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards, integrate journalism ethics into our decision-making and react to the changing news cycle.
The goal of the News Product Alliance is to offer training, networking and career-development opportunities for news product professionals and product thinkers. You don’t need a product title to be a product thinker. If you apply (or want to learn) product frameworks to create cross-functional strategies within a news organization, this community is for you.
Throughout this process, I’ve been fortunate to work with some of the most talented people I’ve ever met. When I felt imposter syndrome, they validated my work. When I lacked experience, they taught me new skills. And when I succeeded, they celebrated with me. Case in point: Last week a close family member of mine passed away. Without hesitation, the members of the NPA steering committee gave me permission to go offline and focus on my family. In my absence, they picked up every ball before it could drop. They created a launch checklist, built the website and executed a marketing plan. They were my allies. Now, we can become your allies too.
My hope is that the News Product Alliance will provide more people with such experiences and a strong sense of connection, so that we can transform the news industry together. That as a community, we will support each other, learn from each other’s successes and failures, and strengthen our product practices to ensure news organizations thrive.
Special thank you to the more than 30 advisory committee members and the elected NPA steering committee members: Emma Carew Grovum (Kimbap Media), Anita Zielina (Newmark J-School), Kim Fox (CalMatters), Eric Ulken (Gannett), Luciana Cardoso (Estadão), Ryan Nakashima (Bay Area News Group), Tony Elkins (Gannett), Brian Boyer (independent consultant), Shannan Bowen (McClatchy), Damon Kiesow (Mizzou), Aron Pilhofer (Temple University) and Marco Túlio Pires (Google News Lab).
