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