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.
Alan Soon The rise of start of psychographic, micro-targeted media
Felix Salmon Covering bitcoin while owning bitcoin
Jassim Ahmad Thriving on change
Edward Roussel Eyes, ears, and brains
Julia B. Chan Looking for loyalty in all the right places
Jessica Parker Gilbert Design connects storytelling and strategy
Mary Meehan Real lives are at stake in rural areas
Raney Aronson-Rath Transparency is the antidote to fake news
Tim Carmody Watch out for Spotify
Alfred Hermida Going beyond mobile-first
Tanzina Vega It’s time for media companies to #PassTheMic
Jim Brady With the people, not just of the people
Raju Narisetti Mirror, mirror on the wall
Borja Echevarría TV goes digital, digital goes TV
Carlos Martínez de la Serna The new journalism commons
Mariano Blejman News games rule
Carrie Brown-Smith Transparency finally takes off
Susie Banikarim R.I.P. Pivot to Video (2017–2017)
Rodney Benson Better, less read, and less trusted
Niketa Patel Live journalism comes of age
Mariana Moura Santos Think local, act global
Cory Haik Suffering from realness, pivoting to impact
Basile Simon We need better career paths for news nerds
Juliette De Maeyer A responsible press criticism
Juleyka Lantigua Women of color will reclaim and monetize our time
Hossein Derakhshan Television has won
Manoush Zomorodi Self-help as a publishing strategy
Jesse Holcomb Information disorder, coming to a congressional district near you
Michelle Ferrier The year of the great reckoning
Umbreen Bhatti The trust problem isn’t new
Corey Ford The empire strikes back
Pia Frey Address users as individuals
Kyle Ellis Let’s build our way out of this
Matt Thompson Here come the attention managers
Justin Kosslyn The year journalists become digital security experts
Brian Lam Sketchy ethics around product reviews
Sam Ford The year of investing in processes
Heather Bryant Building the ecosystems for collaboration
Kinsey Wilson Facebook and Google: Help out or pay up
Nikki Usher The year of The Washington Post
Alastair Coote The year of self-improvement
Michael Kuntz The only pivot that might work
Nicholas Quah Stop talking trash about young people
Molly de Aguiar Good journalism won’t be enough
Sara M. Watson Feeds will open up to new user-determined filters
Joanne Lipman Journalists inventing revenue streams
Mandy Velez texting is lit rn, fam
Mike Caulfield Refactoring media literacy for the networked age
Jared Newman Venture funding and digital news don’t mix
Helen Havlak Keywords, not publishers, power the world’s biggest feeds
Jacqui Cheng Retailers move into content
Mary Walter-Brown Show a little vulnerability
P. Kim Bui The reckoning is only beginning
Caitria O'Neill The new court of public opinion
Matt Boggie The intellectual equivalent of the Dead Sea
Rodney Gibbs Tech workers turn to journalism
Nicholas Diakopoulos Fortifying social media from automated inauthenticity
Ray Soto VR reaches the next level
Elizabeth Jensen Show your work
Michelle Garcia Navigating journalistic transparency
S. Mitra Kalita The arc of news and audience
Richard Tofel The platforms’ power demands more reporters’ attention
Matt Carlson Attacks on the press will get worse
Nushin Rashidian Publishers seek ad dollar alternatives
Gordon Crovitz Serving readers over advertisers
Dan Shanoff You down with OTT? (Yeah, DTC)
Ernst-Jan Pfauth Publishing less to give readers more
Laura E. Davis Writing answers before you know the question
Ruth Palmer Risks will grow for news subjects — especially minorities
Jamie Mottram From pageviews to t-shirts
Jennifer Brandel and Mónica Guzmán The editorial meeting of the future
Debra Adams Simmons And a woman shall lead them
Miguel Castro The arrival of the impact producer
Will Sommer The year local media gets conservative
Amy King Let’s amplify visual voice
Kristen Muller The year of the voter
Marcela Donini and Thiago Herdy Collaboration is the way forward for Brazilian journalism
Matt DeRienzo A recession, then a collapse
Andrew Losowsky The year of resilience
Emily Goligoski Looking beyond news for inspiration
Trushar Barot The Jio-fication of India
Lanre Akinola Making noise is not a strategy
Evie Nagy Pivot to mobile video frustration
Alice Antheaume Are you fluent in AI?
Sally Lehrman Trust comes first
Dannagal G. Young Stop covering politics as a game
Caitlin Thompson Podcasting models mature and diversify
Jim Moroney Newspapers have to be good enough for readers to pay for
Feli Sánchez The year for guerrilla user research
David Skok Finding an information-life balance
Corey Johnson The pro-fact resistance
Lam Thuy Vo Breaking free from the tyranny of the loudest
Sarah Marshall Loyalty as the key performance indicator
Eric Ulken The year local publishers get smart(er) about change
Andrew Ramsammy The year ownership mattered
Aron Pilhofer We can’t leave the business to the business side any more
José Zamora Revenue-first journalism
Cristina Wilson The year of the Instagram Story
Andrew Haeg The year journalists become relationship builders
Imaeyen Ibanga Longform video leads the way
Mi-Ai Parrish Blockchain and trust
Tanya Cordrey Finally, the seeds of radical reinvention
Adam Thomas Sharing is caring: The year of the mentor
Yvonne Leow The rise of video messaging
Frédéric Filloux External forces
Emma Carew Grovum Newsroom culture becomes a priority
Damon Krukowski Reviving the alt-weekly soul
Rubina Madan Fillion Unlocking the potential of AI
Rachel Davis Mersey AI, with real smarts
Mario García Storytelling finally adapts to mobile
Bill Keller A growing turn to philanthropy
Lucas Graves From algorithms to institutions
Tracie Powell The muting of underserved voices
Pete Brown Push alerts, personalized
Errin Haines At the ballot, it’s time to count black women
Millie Tran and Stine Bauer Dahlberg (Hint: It’s about your brand)
Hannah Cassius The year of the echo-chamber escapists
Craig Newmark Working together toward sustainable solutions
Charo Henríquez Training is an investment, not an expense
Ståle Grut Reclaiming audience interaction from social networks
Zizi Papacharissi Women come back
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Seeking trust in fragmented spaces
Kim Fox Audience teams diversify their approach
Pablo Boczkowski The rise of skeptical reading
Amie Ferris-Rotman More female reporters abroad (please)
Federica Cherubini The rise of bridge roles in news organizations
Vivian Schiller Pivot to tomorrow
Kathleen McElroy Building a news video experience native to mobile
Tamar Charney We get serious about algorithms
An Xiao Mina Memes and visuals come to the fore
Taylor Lorenz Social and media will split
Rachel Schallom Better design helps differentiate opinion and news
Luke O'Neil The end is already here
Kawandeep Virdee Zines had it right all along
Dheerja Kaur Fun with subscription products
Mira Lowe The year of the local watchdog
Jennifer Choi Standing up for us and for each other
Daniel Trielli The rich get richer, the poor scramble
Jarrod Dicker Honesty in advertising
Joanne McNeil Gatekeeping the gatekeepers
Cindy Royal Your journalism curriculum is obsolete
Vanessa K. DeLuca Women’s voices take center stage
Rick Berke Value is the watchword
Doris Truong Computer vision vs. the Internet vigilantes
Renée Kaplan The year of quiet adjustments (shhh)
Betsy O'Donovan and Melody Kramer Skepticism and narcissism
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen The Snapchat scenario and the risk of more closed platforms
Francesco Marconi The year of machine-to-machine journalism
Monique Judge Letting black women tell their own stories
Sam Sanders Shine the light on ourselves
Amy Webb Listen to weak signals
Alexios Mantzarlis Moving fake news research out of the lab
Jennifer Coogan The future is female
Sydette Harry Listen to your corner and watch for the hook
Joyce Barnathan It will be harder to bury the news
Steve Grove The midterms are an opportunity
Christopher Meighan Passive partnership is in the rearview
C.W. Anderson The social media apocalypse
Claire Wardle Disinformation gets worse