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Cindy Royal Your journalism curriculum is obsolete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