What’s your media job: Head of Audio and Newsletters

Editor’s note: The Fix is running a series of articles on different jobs in the media world. We ask leading news media professionals about their job positions – what they actually do, how they make decisions, what excites them about their work, and what they can advise newcomers in their fields. In this episode, we describe the Head of Audio and Newsletters position based on our interview with Hana N?me?ková from Seznam Zprávy. 

The Head of Audio and Newsletters is a managerial role in the newsroom responsible for the outlet’s strategy on audio content, such as podcasts and audio articles, and newsletters. This includes coordinating the planning, editing, and producing of the content. 

This person also lobbies for new projects with newsroom executives, searches for funding within the organisation, and allocates it accordingly. In addition, they analyse the metrics and relevance of the content produced and make decisions about any necessary changes – such as whether to launch a new product or shut down an existing one – in consultation with other newsroom leaders.

What the Head of Audio and Newsletters in Seznam Zprávy does

Seznam Zprávy is an online outlet in the Czech Republic. Founded in 2017, it was later divided into TV and online news under the Seznam company. About a hundred journalists are working for the website, including freelancers cooperating with the newsroom. 

Hana N?me?ková, Head of Audio and Newsletters at Seznam Zprávy, leads a diverse team: two full-time and two part-time podcast editors, newsletter editor, and social media editors. (Podcast hosts are usually correspondents within the larger newsroom and thus do not report to N?me?ková).

Initially, her position when she joined the outlet three years ago was focused on audience engagement. She then built a podcast unit within the newsroom and started producing newsletters as well (at the time, Seznam Zprávy had no podcasts and only one newsletter). “For me, it’s pretty much similar; it’s a way to have a direct connection with your audience. So, to have these two formats together was logical for me,” says N?me?ková.

Now, the outlet has six newsletters, daily, weekly and monthly, and six podcasts, with two daily and four weekly. They also produce limited series (mostly focused on investigative / true-crime genre), and overall the team has created 15-20 podcasts. 

As N?me?ková explains, teams of two main daily podcasts “5:59” (led by the experienced audio journalist Lenka Kabrhelová) and “Ptám se já” are independent. She still has social media editors of the whole newsroom as a part of her team, though she gives them more independence and primarily consults them. For now, N?me?ková closely works with the team on developing a recently created TikTok account. 

Usual workday of the Head of Audio and Newsletters

N?me?ková split her daily work into two parts. One is day-to-day operations, and the second is planning and strategising. On a typical workday, N?me?ková begins with a meeting of newsroom editors to discuss plans for the day, where she represents the podcast desk. 

She then works on editing podcasts and newsletters if needed, checks analytics, and coordinates teamwork. N?me?ková also holds meetings with colleagues from various desks and the sales department to discuss changes to current podcasts.

Moreover, she enjoys editing TikTok videos by herself, about a piece in a day. “I like to know how to make the content I’m producing. So, I know how to edit and send out a newsletter. I’m a very bad sound editor, but I could also edit something. And I’m definitely able to edit a podcast script or the resulting article,” explains N?me?ková. 

She adds that she likes the journalistic craft, and there is a culture of it in Seznam Zprávy; even some highest executives write articles. As N?me?ková puts it, there is a notion that “you have to get your hands dirty” in the newsroom. 

In the strategic planning part of her work, N?me?ková comes up with new podcast ideas. She is also responsible for hiring, budgeting, and brand building. She reports to Radek Kedro?, deputy editor-in-chief responsible for investigative journalism and audio. Usually, they have a meeting every week. N?me?ková doesn’t have an organised reporting system for her teammates because they communicate daily; they also have a weekly team meeting. 

How to decide on starting a new podcast or newsletter

When deciding to launch a new podcast, Hana N?me?ková considers whether the idea aligns with the outlet’s five pillars of strategy: investigative journalism, reportage journalism, opinions, authors (having top professionals on the team), and business journalism. She gives an example: the outlet had a culture podcast, which is not a core topic of Seznam Zprávy, but it fitted under the opinion journalism pillar. However, it didn’t work out in the end. 

“In my view, it was not the content’s fault; our readers are just drawn to political, investigative, economic journalism, and other [similar] topics. That culture podcast had a very small and vibrant community, which was totally different from the majority of our readership,” says the manager.

She also assesses budget and human resources and looks for feedback from piloting sessions. It is best when the author and the topic are already present in a newsroom, as N?me?ková explains.

“You just feel the vibe if it’s going to work. Sometimes it just doesn’t work because, for example, the topic is not the fundamental topic that you’re focusing on. Or you have external authors coming in, and the flow is kind of rocky. I know it’s not very management based or rational-based, but 90% of the time you can feel when you’re launching a project if it’s going to be successful or not. You just know,” says Hana N?me?ková.

When deciding to launch a newsletter, N?me?ková considers whether a newsletter would fit into a journalist’s workflow and bring readers or a community and if it would benefit the outlet’s brand or author’s personal brand. Newsletter ideas come both from N?me?ková’s team and from subject matter teams, such as tech and business desks. 

Most exciting and challenging parts of the job

Hana N?me?ková finds great joy in launching new projects. She loves coordinating the workflow of launching and producing, coming up with branding, names for the projects, as well as communicating with colleagues and collaborating with other desks. 

Asked about the most challenging parts of her job, N?me?ková names hiring and budgeting. The former can be a “tedious” process for both sides, and onboarding new team members takes a lot of resources. Regarding budgeting, N?me?ková says that “it’s just not great to talk with people about money; not great in general.” 

She then adds a point about people management: as a manager, you must constantly check the atmosphere in the team, and the mood of the people, especially after two years of COVID and almost a year of the war in Europe. N?me?ková feels that there is some exhaustion and uncertainty, and she has to check in with her team to avoid burnout. 

Advice for those who want to work in audio and newsletters

N?me?ková was also responsible for analytics in the newsroom until September. She believes it is a fascinating and valuable job because an analyst can see the underbelly of everything. So, she advises anyone interested in media management roles to pass a basic data course. N?me?ková believes it would also be helpful for independent creators because looking into the data “is going to tell you so much.” Besides, data knowledge and experience are valuable for a career because it is lacking in the media industry.  

For people already working in news media and looking to start a podcast or a newsletter, N?me?ková also suggests being prepared with a solid argument and strategy to persuade executives about the value of audio and newsletter products, as they may be viewed as dispensable.

What to read and listen to if you are interested in Head of Audio and Newsletters role

Newsletters:

• Hot Pod newsletter on the audio industry from The Verge
• Brian Morrissey’s “The Rebooting” newsletter on building sustainable media businesses
• Dirt newsletter on digital pop culture
• Reuters Institute’s newsletter on journalism news from around the globe and media research
• If you know Czech: Mediá? newsletter on the news about media in the country and its author’s Jakub Jetmar weekly column

Podcasts:

• People vs. Algorithms weekly podcast on patterns and trends in media
• New York Times’ Hard Fork podcast on the world of tech 
• Recode Media with Peter Kafka podcast on the intersection of media, entertainment, and technology. Hana N?me?ková has been listening to this podcast for seven years and still likes Kafka’s interviewing style