The big challenges facing the news industry were all-consuming in 2017, and rightly so. On top of a relentless news cycle, newsrooms were focused on partisan attacks, information disorders, changing revenue models, the move to mobile, and the ever-changing dynamics with the platforms. In other words, today’s reality.
In 2018, publishers will begin to make room for tomorrow’s reality, in which new AI-driven technologies upend the way consumers seek, discover, consume, and share news and information. Over the next few years, advances in natural language processing, voice recognition, augmented reality, and automation will change consumer behavior to the point that some people predict the end of smartphones as we know them today.
Let’s group AI’s impact on news into three big buckets:
Will all this have a massive impact in 2018? Maybe not. But I’m reminded of the Bill Gates line that we always overestimate the change that will come in the next two years and underestimate the change that will come in 10. Are news organizations thinking about what AI will mean for business models? For access to quality information? For content discovery? For news gathering? For fake news? For employee skills, staffing, and work flow? Are journalism schools preparing the next generation of news leaders? I think the answer so far, is mostly — no. But in 2018, the awakening will begin.
Vivian Schiller is executive editor in residence at Weber Shandwick.
Sara M. Watson Feeds will open up to new user-determined filters
Corey Ford The empire strikes back
Emily Goligoski Looking beyond news for inspiration
Hannah Cassius The year of the echo-chamber escapists
Tamar Charney We get serious about algorithms
Imaeyen Ibanga Longform video leads the way
Rodney Benson Better, less read, and less trusted
Ståle Grut Reclaiming audience interaction from social networks
Jarrod Dicker Honesty in advertising
Mary Meehan Real lives are at stake in rural areas
Debra Adams Simmons And a woman shall lead them
Edward Roussel Eyes, ears, and brains
Renée Kaplan The year of quiet adjustments (shhh)
Andrew Losowsky The year of resilience
Joyce Barnathan It will be harder to bury the news
Andrew Haeg The year journalists become relationship builders
Jessica Parker Gilbert Design connects storytelling and strategy
Jared Newman Venture funding and digital news don’t mix
Luke O'Neil The end is already here
David Skok Finding an information-life balance
Alastair Coote The year of self-improvement
Tim Carmody Watch out for Spotify
Ruth Palmer Risks will grow for news subjects — especially minorities
Emma Carew Grovum Newsroom culture becomes a priority
Pete Brown Push alerts, personalized
Eric Nuzum Beyond the narrative arc
Juliette De Maeyer A responsible press criticism
Will Sommer The year local media gets conservative
Joanne Lipman Journalists inventing revenue streams
Claire Wardle Disinformation gets worse
Daniel Trielli The rich get richer, the poor scramble
Cristina Wilson The year of the Instagram Story
Vanessa K. DeLuca Women’s voices take center stage
Mandy Velez texting is lit rn, fam
Tanya Cordrey Finally, the seeds of radical reinvention
C.W. Anderson The social media apocalypse
Cory Haik Suffering from realness, pivoting to impact
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen The Snapchat scenario and the risk of more closed platforms
Steve Grove The midterms are an opportunity
Vivian Schiller Pivot to tomorrow
Michael Kuntz The only pivot that might work
Umbreen Bhatti The trust problem isn’t new
Nicholas Diakopoulos Fortifying social media from automated inauthenticity
Laura E. Davis Writing answers before you know the question
S. Mitra Kalita The arc of news and audience
Rubina Madan Fillion Unlocking the potential of AI
Sam Ford The year of investing in processes
Borja Echevarría TV goes digital, digital goes TV
José Zamora Revenue-first journalism
Aron Pilhofer We can’t leave the business to the business side any more
Miguel Castro The arrival of the impact producer
Richard Tofel The platforms’ power demands more reporters’ attention
Corey Johnson The pro-fact resistance
Jesse Holcomb Information disorder, coming to a congressional district near you
Brian Lam Sketchy ethics around product reviews
Taylor Lorenz Social and media will split
Mi-Ai Parrish Blockchain and trust
Heather Bryant Building the ecosystems for collaboration
Carlos Martínez de la Serna The new journalism commons
Nushin Rashidian Publishers seek ad dollar alternatives
Manoush Zomorodi Self-help as a publishing strategy
Alexios Mantzarlis Moving fake news research out of the lab
Francesco Marconi The year of machine-to-machine journalism
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Seeking trust in fragmented spaces
Jim Moroney Newspapers have to be good enough for readers to pay for
Juleyka Lantigua Women of color will reclaim and monetize our time
Jim Brady With the people, not just of the people
Pia Frey Address users as individuals
Niketa Patel Live journalism comes of age
Helen Havlak Keywords, not publishers, power the world’s biggest feeds
Raju Narisetti Mirror, mirror on the wall
Mariana Moura Santos Think local, act global
Carrie Brown-Smith Transparency finally takes off
Kathleen McElroy Building a news video experience native to mobile
Felix Salmon Covering bitcoin while owning bitcoin
Hossein Derakhshan Television has won
Betsy O'Donovan and Melody Kramer Skepticism and narcissism
Tracie Powell The muting of underserved voices
Sydette Harry Listen to your corner and watch for the hook
Millie Tran and Stine Bauer Dahlberg (Hint: It’s about your brand)
Matt Carlson Attacks on the press will get worse
Marcela Donini and Thiago Herdy Collaboration is the way forward for Brazilian journalism
Doris Truong Computer vision vs. the Internet vigilantes
Cindy Royal Your journalism curriculum is obsolete
Lam Thuy Vo Breaking free from the tyranny of the loudest
Pablo Boczkowski The rise of skeptical reading
Basile Simon We need better career paths for news nerds
Craig Newmark Working together toward sustainable solutions
Joanne McNeil Gatekeeping the gatekeepers
Monika Bauerlein The firehose of falsehood
Mary Walter-Brown Show a little vulnerability
Kyle Ellis Let’s build our way out of this
Ernst-Jan Pfauth Publishing less to give readers more
Rachel Davis Mersey AI, with real smarts
Matt Thompson Here come the attention managers
Federica Cherubini The rise of bridge roles in news organizations
Mariano Blejman News games rule
Monique Judge Letting black women tell their own stories
Alfred Hermida Going beyond mobile-first
Nikki Usher The year of The Washington Post
Kristen Muller The year of the voter
Molly de Aguiar Good journalism won’t be enough
Frédéric Filloux External forces
Jennifer Coogan The future is female
P. Kim Bui The reckoning is only beginning
Gordon Crovitz Serving readers over advertisers
Matt DeRienzo A recession, then a collapse
Sam Sanders Shine the light on ourselves
Julia B. Chan Looking for loyalty in all the right places
Mike Caulfield Refactoring media literacy for the networked age
Jacqui Cheng Retailers move into content
Kinsey Wilson Facebook and Google: Help out or pay up
Julia Beizer A longer view on the pivot
Mira Lowe The year of the local watchdog
Michelle Garcia Navigating journalistic transparency
Lucas Graves From algorithms to institutions
Adam Thomas Sharing is caring: The year of the mentor
Kawandeep Virdee Zines had it right all along
Christopher Meighan Passive partnership is in the rearview
Zizi Papacharissi Women come back
Dheerja Kaur Fun with subscription products
Evie Nagy Pivot to mobile video frustration
Feli Sánchez The year for guerrilla user research
Tanzina Vega It’s time for media companies to #PassTheMic
Dan Shanoff You down with OTT? (Yeah, DTC)
Jassim Ahmad Thriving on change
Jamie Mottram From pageviews to t-shirts
Errin Haines At the ballot, it’s time to count black women
Amy King Let’s amplify visual voice
Charo Henríquez Training is an investment, not an expense
Alan Soon The rise of start of psychographic, micro-targeted media
Alice Antheaume Are you fluent in AI?
Rachel Schallom Better design helps differentiate opinion and news
Andrew Ramsammy The year ownership mattered
Elizabeth Jensen Show your work
Caitlin Thompson Podcasting models mature and diversify
Mario García Storytelling finally adapts to mobile
Caitria O'Neill The new court of public opinion
Bill Keller A growing turn to philanthropy
Dannagal G. Young Stop covering politics as a game
Ray Soto VR reaches the next level
Rick Berke Value is the watchword
Jennifer Brandel and Mónica Guzmán The editorial meeting of the future
Susie Banikarim R.I.P. Pivot to Video (2017–2017)
Matt Boggie The intellectual equivalent of the Dead Sea
Damon Krukowski Reviving the alt-weekly soul
AX Mina Memes and visuals come to the fore
Trushar Barot The Jio-fication of India
Eric Ulken The year local publishers get smart(er) about change
Rodney Gibbs Tech workers turn to journalism
Sarah Marshall Loyalty as the key performance indicator
Jennifer Choi Standing up for us and for each other
Justin Kosslyn The year journalists become digital security experts
Amy Webb Listen to weak signals
Michelle Ferrier The year of the great reckoning
Amie Ferris-Rotman More female reporters abroad (please)
Raney Aronson-Rath Transparency is the antidote to fake news
Nicholas Quah Stop talking trash about young people
Sally Lehrman Trust comes first