Matt Lauer, Mark Halperin, Charlie Rose, and all the other fallen sexual harassers had one thing in common. They were notorious assholes. (See Venn diagram below.)
They yelled at people, belittled staff in front of colleagues, threatened, bullied, interrupted, mocked, and generally threw their weight around. We thought it was the price to pay for the talent of great men. Maybe being an asshole was even a sign of great talent.
It was a sign, all right. A sign that something was very, very wrong. And the price? Toxic workplaces, talent drain, skewed covering, lawsuits, long-term damage to news organizations’ reputation and credibility, and loss of revenue from advertisers, subscribers, and members.
Prediction: In 2018, newsrooms adopt a no-assholes rule. You want to be an asshole? Sorry, you can’t work here.
(Credit for inventing the No Asshole Rule goes to Stanford professor Robert I. Sutton.)
Marie Gilot is the director of CUNY J+, the professional development arm of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.
Charo Henríquez Training is an investment, not an expense
Ruth Palmer Risks will grow for news subjects — especially minorities
Debra Adams Simmons And a woman shall lead them
Alexios Mantzarlis Moving fake news research out of the lab
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen The Snapchat scenario and the risk of more closed platforms
Eric Nuzum Beyond the narrative arc
Damon Krukowski Reviving the alt-weekly soul
Betsy O'Donovan and Melody Kramer Skepticism and narcissism
Mariano Blejman News games rule
Mary Meehan Real lives are at stake in rural areas
Joyce Barnathan It will be harder to bury the news
Frédéric Filloux External forces
Mandy Velez texting is lit rn, fam
Sarah Marshall Loyalty as the key performance indicator
Tim Carmody Watch out for Spotify
Kawandeep Virdee Zines had it right all along
Michelle Garcia Navigating journalistic transparency
Mary Walter-Brown Show a little vulnerability
Kim Fox Audience teams diversify their approach
Michael Kuntz The only pivot that might work
Kathleen McElroy Building a news video experience native to mobile
Justin Kosslyn The year journalists become digital security experts
Francesco Marconi The year of machine-to-machine journalism
Emily Goligoski Looking beyond news for inspiration
Richard Tofel The platforms’ power demands more reporters’ attention
Ray Soto VR reaches the next level
C.W. Anderson The social media apocalypse
Borja Echevarría TV goes digital, digital goes TV
Caitria O'Neill The new court of public opinion
Jim Moroney Newspapers have to be good enough for readers to pay for
Jamie Mottram From pageviews to t-shirts
Cristina Wilson The year of the Instagram Story
Tanzina Vega It’s time for media companies to #PassTheMic
Jarrod Dicker Honesty in advertising
Jessica Parker Gilbert Design connects storytelling and strategy
David Skok Finding an information-life balance
Ståle Grut Reclaiming audience interaction from social networks
Gordon Crovitz Serving readers over advertisers
Corey Johnson The pro-fact resistance
Umbreen Bhatti The trust problem isn’t new
Dan Shanoff You down with OTT? (Yeah, DTC)
Matt Boggie The intellectual equivalent of the Dead Sea
Tamar Charney We get serious about algorithms
Eric Ulken The year local publishers get smart(er) about change
Errin Haines At the ballot, it’s time to count black women
Nicholas Diakopoulos Fortifying social media from automated inauthenticity
Mike Caulfield Refactoring media literacy for the networked age
Renée Kaplan The year of quiet adjustments (shhh)
Andrew Ramsammy The year ownership mattered
Jennifer Coogan The future is female
Nikki Usher The year of The Washington Post
Federica Cherubini The rise of bridge roles in news organizations
Mi-Ai Parrish Blockchain and trust
Julia Beizer A longer view on the pivot
Joanne McNeil Gatekeeping the gatekeepers
Imaeyen Ibanga Longform video leads the way
Jim Brady With the people, not just of the people
Helen Havlak Keywords, not publishers, power the world’s biggest feeds
Mariana Moura Santos Think local, act global
Matt Thompson Here come the attention managers
Raney Aronson-Rath Transparency is the antidote to fake news
Jared Newman Venture funding and digital news don’t mix
Miguel Castro The arrival of the impact producer
Carrie Brown-Smith Transparency finally takes off
Corey Ford The empire strikes back
Vanessa K. DeLuca Women’s voices take center stage
Juliette De Maeyer A responsible press criticism
Millie Tran and Stine Bauer Dahlberg (Hint: It’s about your brand)
Feli Sánchez The year for guerrilla user research
Julia B. Chan Looking for loyalty in all the right places
Sam Ford The year of investing in processes
Caitlin Thompson Podcasting models mature and diversify
Niketa Patel Live journalism comes of age
Cindy Royal Your journalism curriculum is obsolete
Ernst-Jan Pfauth Publishing less to give readers more
Mira Lowe The year of the local watchdog
Kristen Muller The year of the voter
Juleyka Lantigua Women of color will reclaim and monetize our time
Claire Wardle Disinformation gets worse
Steve Grove The midterms are an opportunity
Rachel Davis Mersey AI, with real smarts
Laura E. Davis Writing answers before you know the question
Craig Newmark Working together toward sustainable solutions
Matt DeRienzo A recession, then a collapse
Marie Gilot No assholes allowed
Elizabeth Jensen Show your work
Andrew Haeg The year journalists become relationship builders
Jennifer Brandel and Mónica Guzmán The editorial meeting of the future
Tracie Powell The muting of underserved voices
Michelle Ferrier The year of the great reckoning
Emma Carew Grovum Newsroom culture becomes a priority
Lucas Graves From algorithms to institutions
Doris Truong Computer vision vs. the Internet vigilantes
S. Mitra Kalita The arc of news and audience
Mario García Storytelling finally adapts to mobile
Amy King Let’s amplify visual voice
Evie Nagy Pivot to mobile video frustration
Sally Lehrman Trust comes first
Sara M. Watson Feeds will open up to new user-determined filters
Alastair Coote The year of self-improvement
José Zamora Revenue-first journalism
Basile Simon We need better career paths for news nerds
Felix Salmon Covering bitcoin while owning bitcoin
Raju Narisetti Mirror, mirror on the wall
Dannagal G. Young Stop covering politics as a game
Monique Judge Letting black women tell their own stories
Susie Banikarim R.I.P. Pivot to Video (2017–2017)
Luke O'Neil The end is already here
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Seeking trust in fragmented spaces
Adam Thomas Sharing is caring: The year of the mentor
Edward Roussel Eyes, ears, and brains
Marcela Donini and Thiago Herdy Collaboration is the way forward for Brazilian journalism
Monika Bauerlein The firehose of falsehood
Aron Pilhofer We can’t leave the business to the business side any more
Sam Sanders Shine the light on ourselves
Rick Berke Value is the watchword
Hossein Derakhshan Television has won
Sydette Harry Listen to your corner and watch for the hook
Amy Webb Listen to weak signals
An Xiao Mina Memes and visuals come to the fore
Rodney Benson Better, less read, and less trusted
Pia Frey Address users as individuals
Pablo Boczkowski The rise of skeptical reading
Dheerja Kaur Fun with subscription products
Alfred Hermida Going beyond mobile-first
Yvonne Leow The rise of video messaging
Joanne Lipman Journalists inventing revenue streams
Rodney Gibbs Tech workers turn to journalism
P. Kim Bui The reckoning is only beginning
Lanre Akinola Making noise is not a strategy
Rachel Schallom Better design helps differentiate opinion and news
Manoush Zomorodi Self-help as a publishing strategy
Taylor Lorenz Social and media will split
Hannah Cassius The year of the echo-chamber escapists
Andrew Losowsky The year of resilience
Jesse Holcomb Information disorder, coming to a congressional district near you
Jacqui Cheng Retailers move into content
Christopher Meighan Passive partnership is in the rearview
Zizi Papacharissi Women come back
Jennifer Choi Standing up for us and for each other
Nicholas Quah Stop talking trash about young people
Kyle Ellis Let’s build our way out of this
Brian Lam Sketchy ethics around product reviews
Carlos Martínez de la Serna The new journalism commons
Matt Carlson Attacks on the press will get worse
Jassim Ahmad Thriving on change
Alice Antheaume Are you fluent in AI?
Nushin Rashidian Publishers seek ad dollar alternatives
Daniel Trielli The rich get richer, the poor scramble
Bill Keller A growing turn to philanthropy
Trushar Barot The Jio-fication of India
Alan Soon The rise of start of psychographic, micro-targeted media
Cory Haik Suffering from realness, pivoting to impact
Amie Ferris-Rotman More female reporters abroad (please)
Will Sommer The year local media gets conservative
Tanya Cordrey Finally, the seeds of radical reinvention
Rubina Madan Fillion Unlocking the potential of AI
Vivian Schiller Pivot to tomorrow
Pete Brown Push alerts, personalized