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