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