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Cindy Royal Your journalism curriculum is obsolete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