Next year the focus is going to be on gatekeeping mechanics. Who decides what is good? What is “good”? Because the problem with gatekeeping in media is both its overreach and absence. There is wood rot and some slats missing. We might need new gates.
Let’s start with the missing slats.
Now, ten years ago, someone answering this question might have predicted the rise of “curated content.” Instead, content ballooned as clickbait, hot takes, and, yes, fake news. Value of information is alienated from the volume of traffic a piece receives. Readers know this; many of them have experienced it firsthand, like watching a frivolous tweet of theirs go viral, while an important point, made subtly, sits on the timeline, with few likes or retweets. The abundance of content and cynicism about it means real demand for vetted digests and careful recommendation. Nuzzel is interesting, but the really great work in this space is (human-) edited newsletters like The New York Times’ California Today. Next year we might see high profile collaborations to highlight work from various archives.
“The algorithm knows best” is now a laughably naive position to take, even for the companies that initially pushed that narrative. I would not be surprised if Netflix or Hulu reached out to Letterboxd power users to organize playlists next year, kind of like how fashion brands ask influential people on Instagram to create an “edit” of their collections. And for what it’s worth, if Twitter Moments weren’t so understaffed, I think people would be talking about it as the one thing the platform is doing right.
The wood rot calls for a systematic approach.
This year, we learned a number of media figures and institutions have been trading in false prestige. Gatekeeping was never as simple as “this is good” and “that is bad,” but the recent wave of sexual assault and harassment scandals revealed some hidden gears in the process. Much of the resulting commentary considers it in wider context, including abuse of power that might not be sexual in nature, but nevertheless encumbers women and people of color in their careers. After Matt Lauer was revealed as a workplace predator, social media users immediately brought up Ann Curry’s firing five years prior. When the story about Lorin Stein’s misconduct at the Paris Review broke, the conversation quickly moved to Brigid Hughes, and how she was erased from the magazine’s institutional history. Who exactly found Lauer’s hosting ability superior to Curry’s or Stein’s contributions to literature more worthwhile than the work of Hughes? Could it be that the gatekeepers need an extra set of eyes? Well, they have a whole Twitter stream full of eyes on them now.
A lot of these predators are themselves cultural gatekeepers. As the title of one of Rebecca Traister’s incisive pieces at The Cut put it, “Our national narratives are still being shaped by lecherous, powerful men.” Stein passed on a story written by one of Charlie Rose’s victims. Then there’s the abusive Amazon executive who passed on projects like “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Big Little Lies” in favor of work by, um, abusers like Woody Allen and David O. Russell.
What other qualified people were denied jobs, fellowships, and opportunities? What was fished out and what remains in publication slush piles? Who passed on the book proposals and pitches worthy of our attention? It is not enough to wonder about hypothetical women and people of color who never got a chance. I think there is going to be a big push for stories that name the qualified people who were shut out. I expect more profiles like this one, on Karyn Kusama’s limited career opportunities in contrast with her peers like Darren Aronofsky or Christopher Nolan. I also expect broader discussion about biases and criteria. A bit of light shined on selection processes — traditionally conducted in secrecy — might help us arrive at fairer methods to uncover truly great work.
Joanne McNeil is currently working on a book about internet users for FSG.
Renée Kaplan The year of quiet adjustments (shhh)
Aron Pilhofer We can’t leave the business to the business side any more
Tanya Cordrey Finally, the seeds of radical reinvention
Susie Banikarim R.I.P. Pivot to Video (2017–2017)
Tanzina Vega It’s time for media companies to #PassTheMic
Monique Judge Letting black women tell their own stories
Kinsey Wilson Facebook and Google: Help out or pay up
Alastair Coote The year of self-improvement
Cory Haik Suffering from realness, pivoting to impact
Caitlin Thompson Podcasting models mature and diversify
Mary Walter-Brown Show a little vulnerability
Nikki Usher The year of The Washington Post
Ray Soto VR reaches the next level
Jarrod Dicker Honesty in advertising
Matt Boggie The intellectual equivalent of the Dead Sea
Julia B. Chan Looking for loyalty in all the right places
Christopher Meighan Passive partnership is in the rearview
Betsy O'Donovan and Melody Kramer Skepticism and narcissism
Matt DeRienzo A recession, then a collapse
Alan Soon The rise of start of psychographic, micro-targeted media
Carlos Martínez de la Serna The new journalism commons
Andrew Haeg The year journalists become relationship builders
Ernst-Jan Pfauth Publishing less to give readers more
Sara M. Watson Feeds will open up to new user-determined filters
Rick Berke Value is the watchword
Cindy Royal Your journalism curriculum is obsolete
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen The Snapchat scenario and the risk of more closed platforms
Manoush Zomorodi Self-help as a publishing strategy
Michael Kuntz The only pivot that might work
An Xiao Mina Memes and visuals come to the fore
José Zamora Revenue-first journalism
Hannah Cassius The year of the echo-chamber escapists
Laura E. Davis Writing answers before you know the question
Felix Salmon Covering bitcoin while owning bitcoin
L. Gordon Crovitz Serving readers over advertisers
Dheerja Kaur Fun with subscription products
Daniel Trielli The rich get richer, the poor scramble
Federica Cherubini The rise of bridge roles in news organizations
Luke O'Neil The end is already here
Nushin Rashidian Publishers seek ad dollar alternatives
Sally Lehrman Trust comes first
Rachel Davis Mersey AI, with real smarts
Molly de Aguiar Good journalism won’t be enough
Amy King Let’s amplify visual voice
Mike Caulfield Refactoring media literacy for the networked age
Emily Goligoski Looking beyond news for inspiration
Mandy Velez texting is lit rn, fam
Lanre Akinola Making noise is not a strategy
Ståle Grut Reclaiming audience interaction from social networks
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Seeking trust in fragmented spaces
Brian Lam Sketchy ethics around product reviews
Kristen Muller The year of the voter
Millie Tran and Stine Bauer Dahlberg (Hint: It’s about your brand)
Jacqui Cheng Retailers move into content
Sarah Marshall Loyalty as the key performance indicator
Ruth Palmer Risks will grow for news subjects — especially minorities
Marie Gilot No assholes allowed
Hossein Derakhshan Television has won
Sam Sanders Shine the light on ourselves
Richard J. Tofel The platforms’ power demands more reporters’ attention
Sydette Harry Listen to your corner and watch for the hook
Kawandeep Virdee Zines had it right all along
Errin Haines At the ballot, it’s time to count black women
Mary Meehan Real lives are at stake in rural areas
Tim Carmody Watch out for Spotify
Matt Carlson Attacks on the press will get worse
Caitria O'Neill The new court of public opinion
Tamar Charney We get serious about algorithms
Rubina Madan Fillion Unlocking the potential of AI
Pete Brown Push alerts, personalized
Eric Nuzum Beyond the narrative arc
Cristina Wilson The year of the Instagram Story
Will Sommer The year local media gets conservative
Elizabeth Jensen Show your work
Juleyka Lantigua-Williams Women of color will reclaim and monetize our time
Frédéric Filloux External forces
Umbreen Bhatti The trust problem isn’t new
C.W. Anderson The social media apocalypse
Corey Johnson The pro-fact resistance
Damon Krukowski Reviving the alt-weekly soul
Marcela Donini and Thiago Herdy Collaboration is the way forward for Brazilian journalism
Mariano Blejman News games rule
Corey Ford The empire strikes back
Francesco Marconi The year of machine-to-machine journalism
Jessica Parker Gilbert Design connects storytelling and strategy
P. Kim Bui The reckoning is only beginning
Alexios Mantzarlis Moving fake news research out of the lab
Vanessa K. DeLuca Women’s voices take center stage
Trushar Barot The Jio-fication of India
Edward Roussel Eyes, ears, and brains
Taylor Lorenz Social and media will split
Jassim Ahmad Thriving on change
Julia Beizer A longer view on the pivot
Amie Ferris-Rotman More female reporters abroad (please)
Michelle Garcia Navigating journalistic transparency
Bill Keller A growing turn to philanthropy
Kim Fox Audience teams diversify their approach
Heather Bryant Building the ecosystems for collaboration
Steve Grove The midterms are an opportunity
Tracie Powell The muting of underserved voices
Pia Frey Address users as individuals
S. Mitra Kalita The arc of news and audience
Jim Brady With the people, not just of the people
Jim Moroney Newspapers have to be good enough for readers to pay for
Adam Thomas Sharing is caring: The year of the mentor
Joyce Barnathan It will be harder to bury the news
Andrew Ramsammy The year ownership mattered
Amy Webb Listen to weak signals
Joanne McNeil Gatekeeping the gatekeepers
Emma Carew Grovum Newsroom culture becomes a priority
Jennifer Choi Standing up for us and for each other
Niketa Patel Live journalism comes of age
Lucas Graves From algorithms to institutions
Mi-Ai Parrish Blockchain and trust
Helen Havlak Keywords, not publishers, power the world’s biggest feeds
Basile Simon We need better career paths for news nerds
Kyle Ellis Let’s build our way out of this
Dan Shanoff You down with OTT? (Yeah, DTC)
Raju Narisetti Mirror, mirror on the wall
Imaeyen Ibanga Longform video leads the way
Andrew Losowsky The year of resilience
Nicholas Diakopoulos Fortifying social media from automated inauthenticity
Rachel Schallom Better design helps differentiate opinion and news
Craig Newmark Working together toward sustainable solutions
Rodney Gibbs Tech workers turn to journalism
Dannagal G. Young Stop covering politics as a game
Eric Ulken The year local publishers get smart(er) about change
Vivian Schiller Pivot to tomorrow
Evie Nagy Pivot to mobile video frustration
Miguel Castro The arrival of the impact producer
Carrie Brown-Smith Transparency finally takes off
Zizi Papacharissi Women come back
Mira Lowe The year of the local watchdog
Sam Ford The year of investing in processes
Jesse Holcomb Information disorder, coming to a congressional district near you
Lam Thuy Vo Breaking free from the tyranny of the loudest
Rodney Benson Better, less read, and less trusted
Michelle Ferrier The year of the great reckoning
Jared Newman Venture funding and digital news don’t mix
Juliette De Maeyer A responsible press criticism
Claire Wardle Disinformation gets worse
Jamie Mottram From pageviews to t-shirts
Jennifer Coogan The future is female
Monika Bauerlein The firehose of falsehood
Alfred Hermida Going beyond mobile-first
David Skok Finding an information-life balance
Alice Antheaume Are you fluent in AI?
Charo Henríquez Training is an investment, not an expense
Nicholas Quah Stop talking trash about young people
Raney Aronson-Rath Transparency is the antidote to fake news
Mario García Storytelling finally adapts to mobile
Kathleen McElroy Building a news video experience native to mobile
Jennifer Brandel and Mónica Guzmán The editorial meeting of the future
Yvonne Leow The rise of video messaging
Debra Adams Simmons And a woman shall lead them
Doris Truong Computer vision vs. the Internet vigilantes
Justin Kosslyn The year journalists become digital security experts
Mariana Moura Santos Think local, act global
Borja Echevarría TV goes digital, digital goes TV
Feli Sánchez The year for guerrilla user research
Matt Thompson Here come the attention managers