Are you just covering your community? Or are you building something for them?

Take this example. The problem: “I’m new in town and have no idea how local government works or who to call for basic services.”

The story-first approach gives you scattered, short-lived articles. A profile of the mayor. A zoning vote recap. A council meeting write-up. Each piece is valuable, but none of them solve the newcomer’s problem.

The product-first approach means building a single, comprehensive New Resident’s Guide to Town Services. This one resource answers dozens of questions, serves the community for months or even years and builds real loyalty. By creating it, you’re also choosing not to churn out five less impactful stories.

This isn’t just about local government. Imagine the same shift across other beats:

• Sports: Instead of writing a dozen game recaps that fade in 24 hours, build a season-long tracker. Give fans standings, stats and storylines they can return to week after week.
• Education: Instead of endless school board meeting articles, create a “Parents’ Guide to Local Schools.” Explain policies, rankings and resources in one durable package.
• Health: Instead of piecemeal stories on seasonal illnesses, publish a recurring “Flu and Allergy Season Survival Guide.” You can update it as needed, which saves staff time and serves readers better.

Each of these examples takes the same reporting muscle but applies it in a way that endures and compounds. That is the essence of product thinking. Do the work once and reap the benefits many times.

Why does this matter now? Because the old math no longer works. Advertising dollars can’t subsidize infinite churn. Social platforms don’t reliably deliver traffic. Audiences are overwhelmed by volume but starved for clarity. Inside newsrooms, burnout is hollowing out the profession. The treadmill isn’t just unsustainable for journalists, it’s also uninspiring for audiences.

Think about it from their perspective. If you’re a parent, a newcomer or a patient, what do you see? A flood of headlines that requires you to stitch together answers on your own. An endless scroll of “news” that doesn’t add up to real help. Over time, that erodes trust. People don’t abandon journalism because they dislike it. They walk away because it fails to solve their problems.

That’s the trap, and it’s why the product mindset matters so much. It reorients our work around solutions, not just stories. It helps us ask better questions:

• What problem are we solving?
• Who is this for?
• How will they use it?
• How long will it remain useful?

That is the key to escaping the treadmill. Trade one-off coverage for focused, lasting impact. That’s the difference between covering a community and building for it.

Here’s the challenge: Take a look at the last week of your coverage. Which pieces solved a problem? Which could have been reshaped into a product? Try this shift once and see how it feels. Not just for your audience, but for yourself.

This is the “why.” Next week, we’ll get into the “how.” I’ll break down practical principles like prioritization, sequencing and resource-light design that you can apply tomorrow. You won’t need a new budget or new hires — just an idea and a problem to solve.