Legacy media companies are investing in creating products and applications, which will leverage user experience. This goal, however, can be achieved “only when content and form work together,” said Aron Pilhofer, interim Chief Digital Officer at Guardian News & Media.
Pilhofer, who oversees a team of visual, interactive and data journalists, thinks that media product development begins from answering a simple question: what problems can we solve for our audience?
He also mentioned that publishing into third party channels, such as Facebook and Twitter, could create opportunities. “The problem that a lot of media organizations are struggling with when it comes to platforms is that they don’t look at the opportunities as much as the costs. I think there are challenges and risks, but also I think there are opportunities and we should be focusing on those,” he said in an interview with IJF16.
Pilhofer joined The Guardian after a career as an Associate Managing Editor for Digital Strategy and editor of Interactive News at The New York Times. He has also worked at the Center for Public Integrity in Washington and for a number of newspapers in New Jersey and Delaware.