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