Publishers are looking to product managers to balance and bring together expertise from across the business to continually hone their sites, apps and services over a rapidly increasing number of platforms. Crucially, they must develop these in line with what users want and value, and balance those requirements with the needs of the business.
This is the right approach, bringing all these disciplines and foci together to create successful media products rather than letting letting unfocused editorial or unrestrained marketing run the show. At the same time, I’d be concerned if the journalistic purpose becomes just one of a number of factors rather than the lead factor, first among equals. After all, the journalistic service to society is why we do it. Otherwise we could be selling cars or insurance. Whether your mantra is ‘journalism that has impact,’ or ‘journalism that gets noticed’ or even ‘journalism that makes money,’ the first word is always ‘journalism.’
