I have a jacket emblazoned with the phrase, “Suffering from realness.” The quote, if you didn’t already know, is from rapper and noted footwear purveyor Kanye West. His prose likely had nothing at all to do with the state of journalism,1 but that’s exactly why I had it airbrushed. I, along with two other of my best journo friends, co-opted Kanye to make cryptically public the commitment to powering through the tumultuous publishing seas for something worthy.
Pivoting to video, forsaking O&O for distributed, hiring growth hackers, pursuing OTT, new ad products, subscriptions, live, visual — you name it. None of these things are inherently bad — all mere tactics in our transition. And yet they are villainized, by, well, us. 2018 will be no exception. However, here’s betting that it will also be a moment when the tide turns in favor of thinking about impact — realness — in a new way. The winners will be the ones who have built a meaningful journalistic report that transcends, and likely capitalizes on, the platform moment.
Out of the darkest moments come some of the best. Take the Weinstein effect and the speed at which those stories traveled. The entire #metoo network effect is impact at a pace and scale previously unimaginable. Yes, our business model is far from settled. But do not think for a moment that this sea change would be possible without platforms that reach 2 billion people. Sure, it comes with a high cost to businesses that once reaped a 60 percent margin. But the impact potential is even greater.
If you are existentially vexed about all of this, the question to ask yourself as it is all happening around you: Are you pivoting to impact? This might sound trite, but I mean it sincerely. Below, a starter “pivot to impact” moral compass!
If you are a journalist: Have you recently revealed something to your audience that they likely didn’t know before that helps them understand the context of our changing world? Important bonus: Did you try to make it reach as many people as possible?
If you work in product: Did you build something that people want, that possibly helps enable the above? (h/t @MarcusMoretti)
If you work on revenue: Are you focusing on how your publication can uniquely serve users or advertisers?
If you are a platform: Have you worked with a publishing partner either on helping to monetize their existing body of work or offered to pay them for their expert services? Have you worked to battle fake news?
In all seriousness, I am a believer in where we are headed and the good work that’s being done along the way. That’s not to dismiss the challenges and tough calls required to get there. I’ll leave you with a line I often recite to myself and to my teams: If you focus on the story and focus on the user, you will not lose. I am betting on 2018 to value this anew.
Cory Haik is publisher of Mic.
Andrew Haeg The year journalists become relationship builders
Miguel Castro The arrival of the impact producer
Vanessa K. DeLuca Women’s voices take center stage
Mike Caulfield Refactoring media literacy for the networked age
Claire Wardle Disinformation gets worse
Doris Truong Computer vision vs. the Internet vigilantes
Alan Soon The rise of start of psychographic, micro-targeted media
Feli Sánchez The year for guerrilla user research
Carlos Martínez de la Serna The new journalism commons
Kathleen McElroy Building a news video experience native to mobile
Daniel Trielli The rich get richer, the poor scramble
Mandy Velez texting is lit rn, fam
Imaeyen Ibanga Longform video leads the way
Debra Adams Simmons And a woman shall lead them
Marcela Donini and Thiago Herdy Collaboration is the way forward for Brazilian journalism
Joyce Barnathan It will be harder to bury the news
Juleyka Lantigua Women of color will reclaim and monetize our time
Cindy Royal Your journalism curriculum is obsolete
Pete Brown Push alerts, personalized
Felix Salmon Covering bitcoin while owning bitcoin
Basile Simon We need better career paths for news nerds
Mario García Storytelling finally adapts to mobile
Ray Soto VR reaches the next level
José Zamora Revenue-first journalism
Amy Webb Listen to weak signals
Hossein Derakhshan Television has won
Molly de Aguiar Good journalism won’t be enough
Pia Frey Address users as individuals
Rachel Schallom Better design helps differentiate opinion and news
Millie Tran and Stine Bauer Dahlberg (Hint: It’s about your brand)
Nushin Rashidian Publishers seek ad dollar alternatives
Kawandeep Virdee Zines had it right all along
Francesco Marconi The year of machine-to-machine journalism
Jamie Mottram From pageviews to t-shirts
Renée Kaplan The year of quiet adjustments (shhh)
Christopher Meighan Passive partnership is in the rearview
Manoush Zomorodi Self-help as a publishing strategy
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Seeking trust in fragmented spaces
Amie Ferris-Rotman More female reporters abroad (please)
Cristina Wilson The year of the Instagram Story
Kyle Ellis Let’s build our way out of this
Taylor Lorenz Social and media will split
Gordon Crovitz Serving readers over advertisers
Borja Echevarría TV goes digital, digital goes TV
Yvonne Leow The rise of video messaging
Errin Haines At the ballot, it’s time to count black women
Sam Ford The year of investing in processes
Tamar Charney We get serious about algorithms
Nicholas Diakopoulos Fortifying social media from automated inauthenticity
Ernst-Jan Pfauth Publishing less to give readers more
Luke O'Neil The end is already here
Sam Sanders Shine the light on ourselves
Jassim Ahmad Thriving on change
Sarah Marshall Loyalty as the key performance indicator
S. Mitra Kalita The arc of news and audience
Jennifer Brandel and Mónica Guzmán The editorial meeting of the future
Emily Goligoski Looking beyond news for inspiration
Frédéric Filloux External forces
Mariano Blejman News games rule
Trushar Barot The Jio-fication of India
David Skok Finding an information-life balance
Eric Nuzum Beyond the narrative arc
Niketa Patel Live journalism comes of age
Charo Henríquez Training is an investment, not an expense
Monika Bauerlein The firehose of falsehood
Betsy O'Donovan and Melody Kramer Skepticism and narcissism
Michael Kuntz The only pivot that might work
Carrie Brown-Smith Transparency finally takes off
Sally Lehrman Trust comes first
Rachel Davis Mersey AI, with real smarts
Marie Gilot No assholes allowed
Kinsey Wilson Facebook and Google: Help out or pay up
Steve Grove The midterms are an opportunity
Jennifer Choi Standing up for us and for each other
Richard Tofel The platforms’ power demands more reporters’ attention
Ståle Grut Reclaiming audience interaction from social networks
Vivian Schiller Pivot to tomorrow
Tracie Powell The muting of underserved voices
Alice Antheaume Are you fluent in AI?
Joanne Lipman Journalists inventing revenue streams
Susie Banikarim R.I.P. Pivot to Video (2017–2017)
Justin Kosslyn The year journalists become digital security experts
Federica Cherubini The rise of bridge roles in news organizations
Aron Pilhofer We can’t leave the business to the business side any more
Ruth Palmer Risks will grow for news subjects — especially minorities
Caitria O'Neill The new court of public opinion
Raju Narisetti Mirror, mirror on the wall
Edward Roussel Eyes, ears, and brains
Jessica Parker Gilbert Design connects storytelling and strategy
Elizabeth Jensen Show your work
Mi-Ai Parrish Blockchain and trust
Nikki Usher The year of The Washington Post
Jarrod Dicker Honesty in advertising
Mary Walter-Brown Show a little vulnerability
Bill Keller A growing turn to philanthropy
Matt Boggie The intellectual equivalent of the Dead Sea
Matt Thompson Here come the attention managers
Will Sommer The year local media gets conservative
Laura E. Davis Writing answers before you know the question
Adam Thomas Sharing is caring: The year of the mentor
Andrew Losowsky The year of resilience
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen The Snapchat scenario and the risk of more closed platforms
Lucas Graves From algorithms to institutions
Evie Nagy Pivot to mobile video frustration
Corey Johnson The pro-fact resistance
Monique Judge Letting black women tell their own stories
Nicholas Quah Stop talking trash about young people
Helen Havlak Keywords, not publishers, power the world’s biggest feeds
Brian Lam Sketchy ethics around product reviews
Tim Carmody Watch out for Spotify
Alfred Hermida Going beyond mobile-first
Caitlin Thompson Podcasting models mature and diversify
Amy King Let’s amplify visual voice
Mira Lowe The year of the local watchdog
Jim Brady With the people, not just of the people
Tanzina Vega It’s time for media companies to #PassTheMic
Pablo Boczkowski The rise of skeptical reading
Rodney Benson Better, less read, and less trusted
Tanya Cordrey Finally, the seeds of radical reinvention
Dannagal G. Young Stop covering politics as a game
Rick Berke Value is the watchword
Matt Carlson Attacks on the press will get worse
Mary Meehan Real lives are at stake in rural areas
Dheerja Kaur Fun with subscription products
Alexios Mantzarlis Moving fake news research out of the lab
Jacqui Cheng Retailers move into content
Kim Fox Audience teams diversify their approach
Eric Ulken The year local publishers get smart(er) about change
P. Kim Bui The reckoning is only beginning
Julia Beizer A longer view on the pivot
Michelle Ferrier The year of the great reckoning
Sara M. Watson Feeds will open up to new user-determined filters
Lanre Akinola Making noise is not a strategy
Craig Newmark Working together toward sustainable solutions
Rubina Madan Fillion Unlocking the potential of AI
Mariana Moura Santos Think local, act global
Joanne McNeil Gatekeeping the gatekeepers
Zizi Papacharissi Women come back
Michelle Garcia Navigating journalistic transparency
Umbreen Bhatti The trust problem isn’t new
Cory Haik Suffering from realness, pivoting to impact
Heather Bryant Building the ecosystems for collaboration
Raney Aronson-Rath Transparency is the antidote to fake news
Emma Carew Grovum Newsroom culture becomes a priority
Corey Ford The empire strikes back
Juliette De Maeyer A responsible press criticism
Dan Shanoff You down with OTT? (Yeah, DTC)
AX Mina Memes and visuals come to the fore
Alastair Coote The year of self-improvement
Jim Moroney Newspapers have to be good enough for readers to pay for
Sydette Harry Listen to your corner and watch for the hook
Andrew Ramsammy The year ownership mattered
Jennifer Coogan The future is female
Matt DeRienzo A recession, then a collapse
Hannah Cassius The year of the echo-chamber escapists
Lam Thuy Vo Breaking free from the tyranny of the loudest
Jared Newman Venture funding and digital news don’t mix
Jesse Holcomb Information disorder, coming to a congressional district near you
Julia B. Chan Looking for loyalty in all the right places
Damon Krukowski Reviving the alt-weekly soul