As a journalist, Jose Manser has specialized in design and architecture, contributing to many publications. For nine years she edited RIBA Interiors before becoming editor of the RIBA Journal for one year. She was for a long time the London correspondent of the American publication Interiors, and has written monographs of the architect Eva Jiricna and the designer Rodney Kinsman. Her biography of the architect and Past President of the Royal Academy of Arts, Sir Hugh Casson, was published in 2000.