Easing the path to digital transformation

As a former director of business strategy for The Atlantic, Eric Rosato knows a few things about building a successful news business. Now he lends his strategic acumen to thousands of news organizations across the globe for the Google News Initiative’s Digital Growth Program. We talked to Eric about the value of journalism to society and why sometimes the best thing you can do for your business is talk about it.

How did you get interested in news publishing?

There was a point where I decided if I was going to build a career in an industry, I wanted that industry to be bigger than me, the value of it to be bigger than me. That journalism has value to society, that it’s key to a functioning democracy to have an informed citizenry – that’s what motivated me, to know that this purpose is bigger than just me and my work.

What’s different about working for Google?

At Google, it’s the same sense of mission, but doing it at scale. Everyday I have a moment with a publisher that reinforces that mission and that sense of purpose, and it’s not just one publisher, it’s many publishers — thousands, actually, in countries all over the world.

What is the Digital Growth Program, and what’s your role?

The Digital Growth Program, within the Google News Initiative, supports small to midsize publishers in tackling digital transformation. We offer a range of resources covering five critical areas in digital publishing: reader revenue, audience development, advertising revenue, product and data. And all of these resources we developed working with subject matter experts, associations and, of course, publishers.

My role on the team is to help ideate, launch and execute programs. I also work to better understand the impact we’re having and to see how we can improve.

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