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The Product Problem of Journalism
Newsrooms are struggling with cultivating a product-driven mindset. Here are some of my thoughts on why this is the case.
4 min readMay 10, 2021
Since I started as a Product Owner for a large news platform, I exchanged with other POs in the media industry. In the process, I realized that many colleagues are struggling with the same issues.
I also remembered an insightful listicle by Konrad Weber about the missing product-driven mindset in journalism.
Weber synthesizes his findings in six key reasons:
- Lack of product understanding
- Lack of opportunities for cooperation
- Lack of communication between publishing and editorial
- Lack of methodological knowledge
- Lack of leadership to support product management
- Lack of trend and needs analysis
I fully agree with Weber’s analysis, but I want to highlight specific elements and add to his aspects with my thoughts.
Difficult Product Definition
Most publishers and media companies have a rich historical background. They started as printed newspapers. They also owned the print and distribution…
