As an industry, it’s our duty to help readers understand what we do, how we work, how we make money, and how they are part of this process. The media industry has shifted in so many ways in the last two decades, but our readers have not been privy to the process in a way that helps them understand. For instance, they might not understand why we break news the way we do, or why quality journalism can be expensive to generate.
Distrust in institutions — including flinging the term “fake news” at our best news organizations — only contributes to the problem. In 2018, I anticipate more newsrooms sharing how the sausage gets made to our consumers, engaging with young readers to stress news literacy at an early age, or getting readers involved in the reporting/producing process more frequently beyond commenting and sharing stories on social media.
Michelle Garcia is race and identities senior editor at Vox.
Marie Gilot No assholes allowed
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Seeking trust in fragmented spaces
Ståle Grut Reclaiming audience interaction from social networks
Kristen Muller The year of the voter
P. Kim Bui The reckoning is only beginning
David Skok Finding an information-life balance
Emma Carew Grovum Newsroom culture becomes a priority
Hossein Derakhshan Television has won
Matt DeRienzo A recession, then a collapse
Sara M. Watson Feeds will open up to new user-determined filters
Nushin Rashidian Publishers seek ad dollar alternatives
Lucas Graves From algorithms to institutions
Juliette De Maeyer A responsible press criticism
Brian Lam Sketchy ethics around product reviews
Amy Webb Listen to weak signals
Aron Pilhofer We can’t leave the business to the business side any more
Rachel Schallom Better design helps differentiate opinion and news
Ray Soto VR reaches the next level
Amy King Let’s amplify visual voice
Jared Newman Venture funding and digital news don’t mix
Jesse Holcomb Information disorder, coming to a congressional district near you
Caitria O'Neill The new court of public opinion
Ernst-Jan Pfauth Publishing less to give readers more
Cristina Wilson The year of the Instagram Story
Federica Cherubini The rise of bridge roles in news organizations
Dan Shanoff You down with OTT? (Yeah, DTC)
Raju Narisetti Mirror, mirror on the wall
Francesco Marconi The year of machine-to-machine journalism
Julia B. Chan Looking for loyalty in all the right places
Joyce Barnathan It will be harder to bury the news
Rachel Davis Mersey AI, with real smarts
Zizi Papacharissi Women come back
Bill Keller A growing turn to philanthropy
Lam Thuy Vo Breaking free from the tyranny of the loudest
Jennifer Brandel and Mónica Guzmán The editorial meeting of the future
Luke O'Neil The end is already here
Mi-Ai Parrish Blockchain and trust
Mike Caulfield Refactoring media literacy for the networked age
Matt Thompson Here come the attention managers
Emily Goligoski Looking beyond news for inspiration
Hannah Cassius The year of the echo-chamber escapists
Christopher Meighan Passive partnership is in the rearview
Trushar Barot The Jio-fication of India
Feli Sánchez The year for guerrilla user research
Nicholas Diakopoulos Fortifying social media from automated inauthenticity
Jessica Parker Gilbert Design connects storytelling and strategy
Juleyka Lantigua Women of color will reclaim and monetize our time
Pete Brown Push alerts, personalized
Dheerja Kaur Fun with subscription products
Alastair Coote The year of self-improvement
Tanya Cordrey Finally, the seeds of radical reinvention
Craig Newmark Working together toward sustainable solutions
Alfred Hermida Going beyond mobile-first
Justin Kosslyn The year journalists become digital security experts
Monique Judge Letting black women tell their own stories
Jassim Ahmad Thriving on change
Jim Brady With the people, not just of the people
Mary Walter-Brown Show a little vulnerability
Ruth Palmer Risks will grow for news subjects — especially minorities
Heather Bryant Building the ecosystems for collaboration
Sam Ford The year of investing in processes
Susie Banikarim R.I.P. Pivot to Video (2017–2017)
Will Sommer The year local media gets conservative
Daniel Trielli The rich get richer, the poor scramble
Adam Thomas Sharing is caring: The year of the mentor
Dannagal G. Young Stop covering politics as a game
Steve Grove The midterms are an opportunity
Michelle Ferrier The year of the great reckoning
Doris Truong Computer vision vs. the Internet vigilantes
Helen Havlak Keywords, not publishers, power the world’s biggest feeds
Rubina Madan Fillion Unlocking the potential of AI
Cory Haik Suffering from realness, pivoting to impact
Julia Beizer A longer view on the pivot
Tamar Charney We get serious about algorithms
Miguel Castro The arrival of the impact producer
Andrew Losowsky The year of resilience
Gordon Crovitz Serving readers over advertisers
Joanne Lipman Journalists inventing revenue streams
Kinsey Wilson Facebook and Google: Help out or pay up
Kim Fox Audience teams diversify their approach
Millie Tran and Stine Bauer Dahlberg (Hint: It’s about your brand)
Rick Berke Value is the watchword
Debra Adams Simmons And a woman shall lead them
Vanessa K. DeLuca Women’s voices take center stage
Eric Ulken The year local publishers get smart(er) about change
Alexios Mantzarlis Moving fake news research out of the lab
Michael Kuntz The only pivot that might work
Elizabeth Jensen Show your work
Taylor Lorenz Social and media will split
Richard Tofel The platforms’ power demands more reporters’ attention
Sydette Harry Listen to your corner and watch for the hook
Pablo Boczkowski The rise of skeptical reading
Vivian Schiller Pivot to tomorrow
Andrew Haeg The year journalists become relationship builders
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen The Snapchat scenario and the risk of more closed platforms
Rodney Benson Better, less read, and less trusted
Errin Haines At the ballot, it’s time to count black women
Corey Ford The empire strikes back
Basile Simon We need better career paths for news nerds
Molly de Aguiar Good journalism won’t be enough
Matt Boggie The intellectual equivalent of the Dead Sea
Jacqui Cheng Retailers move into content
Carrie Brown-Smith Transparency finally takes off
Niketa Patel Live journalism comes of age
Michelle Garcia Navigating journalistic transparency
Mira Lowe The year of the local watchdog
Laura E. Davis Writing answers before you know the question
Mandy Velez texting is lit rn, fam
Monika Bauerlein The firehose of falsehood
Kathleen McElroy Building a news video experience native to mobile
Borja Echevarría TV goes digital, digital goes TV
Nicholas Quah Stop talking trash about young people
Jennifer Choi Standing up for us and for each other
Betsy O'Donovan and Melody Kramer Skepticism and narcissism
Matt Carlson Attacks on the press will get worse
Jamie Mottram From pageviews to t-shirts
AX Mina Memes and visuals come to the fore
Sally Lehrman Trust comes first
Frédéric Filloux External forces
Umbreen Bhatti The trust problem isn’t new
Tracie Powell The muting of underserved voices
Amie Ferris-Rotman More female reporters abroad (please)
Sam Sanders Shine the light on ourselves
Mariana Moura Santos Think local, act global
Felix Salmon Covering bitcoin while owning bitcoin
Jim Moroney Newspapers have to be good enough for readers to pay for
Kawandeep Virdee Zines had it right all along
Raney Aronson-Rath Transparency is the antidote to fake news
Alan Soon The rise of start of psychographic, micro-targeted media
S. Mitra Kalita The arc of news and audience
Kyle Ellis Let’s build our way out of this
Tim Carmody Watch out for Spotify
Eric Nuzum Beyond the narrative arc
Renée Kaplan The year of quiet adjustments (shhh)
Jennifer Coogan The future is female
Claire Wardle Disinformation gets worse
Mario García Storytelling finally adapts to mobile
Tanzina Vega It’s time for media companies to #PassTheMic
Carlos Martínez de la Serna The new journalism commons
Lanre Akinola Making noise is not a strategy
Pia Frey Address users as individuals
Mary Meehan Real lives are at stake in rural areas
Rodney Gibbs Tech workers turn to journalism
Damon Krukowski Reviving the alt-weekly soul
Mariano Blejman News games rule
Edward Roussel Eyes, ears, and brains
Caitlin Thompson Podcasting models mature and diversify
Corey Johnson The pro-fact resistance
Imaeyen Ibanga Longform video leads the way
Jarrod Dicker Honesty in advertising
Nikki Usher The year of The Washington Post
Marcela Donini and Thiago Herdy Collaboration is the way forward for Brazilian journalism
Charo Henríquez Training is an investment, not an expense
Andrew Ramsammy The year ownership mattered
Manoush Zomorodi Self-help as a publishing strategy
Yvonne Leow The rise of video messaging
Evie Nagy Pivot to mobile video frustration
Joanne McNeil Gatekeeping the gatekeepers
José Zamora Revenue-first journalism