Kat Downs Mulder on the future of journalism and product

This article was produced as part of the NPA Summit 2022 student newsroom. Learn more about this year’s students and the event.

The line between journalism and product can be fuzzy. And Kat Downs Mulder, the Chief Product Officer and Managing Editor at the Washington Post, says it’ll only get fuzzier. 

The News Product Alliance’s 2022 keynote speech centered on Mulder’s bridge role – a position that works between product teams and editorial teams – and how she expects those roles within newsrooms to grow. 

Mulder focused much of her talk on how to lessen the gap between product teams and editorial teams. She said clear thinking and communication are important to ensure people in product positions and people in editorial positions understand the work the other does. “Helping people understand is absolutely essential to getting things done,” said Mulder. 

Mulder said advocating for bridge roles is all about making sure newsroom executives understand their importance. “Try and make the bridge role visible,” she said. “Write down the things you do and make people notice.” 

To connect product thinkers and editorial roles, Mulder introduced the three Ts: translation, transparency and trust. 

Translation

Each specialized team whether it’s engineering, design or editorial use different vocabulary but they often have overlapping definitions. 

It’s up to those in bridge roles to effectively translate terms so they’re understood by each group. 

Product teams might use terms like key performance indicators, objectives and key results while editorial teams might use terms like impact. Both have similar meanings and can be translated by hybrid product and editorial roles, she said.

There are many examples of jargon within product and news — it’s up to those in bridge roles to fill in the gaps.

Transparency

In the news product space, you’ll often hear “news is product,” but Mulder contests that point a bit.

News is not the product, she said, the user experience of the news is the product. 

The role of product teams in newsrooms is to experiment with and improve the user experience of the product.

When it comes to transparency, she said product teams must keep editorial teams frequently updated on the experiments they run, and tell their coworker when the things they try don’t work. 

Mulder said sharing hard information on clicks, engagement or changes in audience demographic between product teams and editorial teams is a good example of fostering transparency. 

Trust

To create trust between product teams and editorial teams, Mulder said it’s useful to remind everyone why they’re in newsrooms as opposed to other industries. 

Product teams and editorial teams are in their field for a common mission, and that shared foundation creates an environment for teams to trust one another. 

Although the tasks performed by each team are unique, a shared mission can bring everyone together. Those in bridge roles can help unite an organization for better collaboration, she said.

“There are all kinds of different jobs in a journalism organization that can be leaders,” she said. “You need clarity about your goals and nurture the skills that align with your career path.”