Despite a devastating blow to journalism post-election, this has been an inspiring opportunity for us to have humility, listen better to our audiences better, and take a stand for our audiences and our work. We, with our audiences, are taking steps towards reversing the normalization of a toxic public discourse. Case in point: #MeToo.
The #MeToo movement has been for me an unexpected, most perfect, and poignant nexus of high-quality journalism and the public discourse, namely on social media. Powerful, compelling investigative reporting culminated in (and worked in tandem with) the shifting of a longstanding public narrative inclined to shame survivors and cover for perpetrators. As an industry, we’ve also been reckoning with the ways in which our own culture has perpetuated misogynistic, abusive behavior.
It’s powerful when journalists and news organizations aren’t afraid to take a stand: reminding the public that we are on their side, and we won’t compromise the truth by refusing to shine a light on our own skeletons. We do it by listening with integrity and vigilantly seeking the truth. We do it by acknowledging that our platforms are tools of power and admit how our very own used them as weapons against the vulnerable.
This is where repairing trust between communities and news organizations begins.
In 2018, I expect news organizations and audiences to remember these lessons and get brave again on how we do our work together:
— We’ll stop using objectivity as an excuse for a weak and lazy narrative and step forcefully into giving voice to those who are perpetually harmed and ignored. We’ll be brutally fair and speak up, especially against bullies. We’ll recognize and uplift courage when we see it.
— We’re going to get smarter about working with social media platforms to get in front of what we do best — telling stories well and truthfully — and know that this is the first step to a long-sustaining relationship with our communities.
— We’ll self-reflect and be confident enough to admit our own mistakes and failings. And we’ll do better.
2018 will be the year journalism gets its swagger again in the face of an anti-media administration and an audience feeling the pain of this toxic public conversation. I still bet on humanity, and I have already seen strong signs of journalism’s role in restoring my faith in humanity this past year.
Jennifer Choi is associate director for strategic partnerships at the News Integrity Initiative.
Amy King Let’s amplify visual voice
Pia Frey Address users as individuals
Mariano Blejman News games rule
Jim Brady With the people, not just of the people
Jennifer Brandel and Mónica Guzmán The editorial meeting of the future
Evie Nagy Pivot to mobile video frustration
Eric Ulken The year local publishers get smart(er) about change
Monika Bauerlein The firehose of falsehood
Tamar Charney We get serious about algorithms
Frédéric Filloux External forces
Damon Krukowski Reviving the alt-weekly soul
Laura E. Davis Writing answers before you know the question
Cory Haik Suffering from realness, pivoting to impact
Miguel Castro The arrival of the impact producer
Jennifer Coogan The future is female
Caitlin Thompson Podcasting models mature and diversify
P. Kim Bui The reckoning is only beginning
Emma Carew Grovum Newsroom culture becomes a priority
Zizi Papacharissi Women come back
Helen Havlak Keywords, not publishers, power the world’s biggest feeds
Monique Judge Letting black women tell their own stories
Alice Antheaume Are you fluent in AI?
Nicholas Diakopoulos Fortifying social media from automated inauthenticity
Michelle Garcia Navigating journalistic transparency
Justin Kosslyn The year journalists become digital security experts
Borja Echevarría TV goes digital, digital goes TV
Michael Kuntz The only pivot that might work
C.W. Anderson The social media apocalypse
Hossein Derakhshan Television has won
Sam Sanders Shine the light on ourselves
Renée Kaplan The year of quiet adjustments (shhh)
Christopher Meighan Passive partnership is in the rearview
Yvonne Leow The rise of video messaging
Kawandeep Virdee Zines had it right all along
Richard Tofel The platforms’ power demands more reporters’ attention
Millie Tran and Stine Bauer Dahlberg (Hint: It’s about your brand)
Edward Roussel Eyes, ears, and brains
Mike Caulfield Refactoring media literacy for the networked age
Imaeyen Ibanga Longform video leads the way
Kinsey Wilson Facebook and Google: Help out or pay up
Vivian Schiller Pivot to tomorrow
Mario García Storytelling finally adapts to mobile
Kim Fox Audience teams diversify their approach
Aron Pilhofer We can’t leave the business to the business side any more
Ruth Palmer Risks will grow for news subjects — especially minorities
José Zamora Revenue-first journalism
Mary Meehan Real lives are at stake in rural areas
Felix Salmon Covering bitcoin while owning bitcoin
Emily Goligoski Looking beyond news for inspiration
Mariana Moura Santos Think local, act global
Jesse Holcomb Information disorder, coming to a congressional district near you
Pete Brown Push alerts, personalized
Cindy Royal Your journalism curriculum is obsolete
Bill Keller A growing turn to philanthropy
Jennifer Choi Standing up for us and for each other
Marie Gilot No assholes allowed
Brian Lam Sketchy ethics around product reviews
Carlos Martínez de la Serna The new journalism commons
Ernst-Jan Pfauth Publishing less to give readers more
Rachel Davis Mersey AI, with real smarts
Gordon Crovitz Serving readers over advertisers
Elizabeth Jensen Show your work
Daniel Trielli The rich get richer, the poor scramble
Dannagal G. Young Stop covering politics as a game
Pablo Boczkowski The rise of skeptical reading
Jamie Mottram From pageviews to t-shirts
Alfred Hermida Going beyond mobile-first
Sam Ford The year of investing in processes
Jacqui Cheng Retailers move into content
Matt DeRienzo A recession, then a collapse
Marcela Donini and Thiago Herdy Collaboration is the way forward for Brazilian journalism
Alastair Coote The year of self-improvement
Craig Newmark Working together toward sustainable solutions
Nushin Rashidian Publishers seek ad dollar alternatives
Taylor Lorenz Social and media will split
Kristen Muller The year of the voter
Julia B. Chan Looking for loyalty in all the right places
Matt Boggie The intellectual equivalent of the Dead Sea
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Seeking trust in fragmented spaces
Tanzina Vega It’s time for media companies to #PassTheMic
Niketa Patel Live journalism comes of age
Feli Sánchez The year for guerrilla user research
Joanne McNeil Gatekeeping the gatekeepers
Eric Nuzum Beyond the narrative arc
Nikki Usher The year of The Washington Post
Joanne Lipman Journalists inventing revenue streams
Michelle Ferrier The year of the great reckoning
Sally Lehrman Trust comes first
Mandy Velez texting is lit rn, fam
Joyce Barnathan It will be harder to bury the news
Dheerja Kaur Fun with subscription products
David Skok Finding an information-life balance
S. Mitra Kalita The arc of news and audience
An Xiao Mina Memes and visuals come to the fore
Jarrod Dicker Honesty in advertising
Errin Haines At the ballot, it’s time to count black women
Andrew Haeg The year journalists become relationship builders
Heather Bryant Building the ecosystems for collaboration
Charo Henríquez Training is an investment, not an expense
Alexios Mantzarlis Moving fake news research out of the lab
Jared Newman Venture funding and digital news don’t mix
Rachel Schallom Better design helps differentiate opinion and news
Ståle Grut Reclaiming audience interaction from social networks
Alan Soon The rise of start of psychographic, micro-targeted media
Sydette Harry Listen to your corner and watch for the hook
Juliette De Maeyer A responsible press criticism
Mi-Ai Parrish Blockchain and trust
Amy Webb Listen to weak signals
Dan Shanoff You down with OTT? (Yeah, DTC)
Will Sommer The year local media gets conservative
Tim Carmody Watch out for Spotify
Matt Thompson Here come the attention managers
Trushar Barot The Jio-fication of India
Federica Cherubini The rise of bridge roles in news organizations
Tracie Powell The muting of underserved voices
Nicholas Quah Stop talking trash about young people
Sara M. Watson Feeds will open up to new user-determined filters
Betsy O'Donovan and Melody Kramer Skepticism and narcissism
Lanre Akinola Making noise is not a strategy
Umbreen Bhatti The trust problem isn’t new
Andrew Losowsky The year of resilience
Steve Grove The midterms are an opportunity
Claire Wardle Disinformation gets worse
Caitria O'Neill The new court of public opinion
Mira Lowe The year of the local watchdog
Debra Adams Simmons And a woman shall lead them
Mary Walter-Brown Show a little vulnerability
Rodney Gibbs Tech workers turn to journalism
Andrew Ramsammy The year ownership mattered
Hannah Cassius The year of the echo-chamber escapists
Corey Ford The empire strikes back
Amie Ferris-Rotman More female reporters abroad (please)
Jassim Ahmad Thriving on change
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen The Snapchat scenario and the risk of more closed platforms
Rick Berke Value is the watchword
Lam Thuy Vo Breaking free from the tyranny of the loudest
Jessica Parker Gilbert Design connects storytelling and strategy
Raju Narisetti Mirror, mirror on the wall
Raney Aronson-Rath Transparency is the antidote to fake news
Sarah Marshall Loyalty as the key performance indicator
Tanya Cordrey Finally, the seeds of radical reinvention
Lucas Graves From algorithms to institutions
Rodney Benson Better, less read, and less trusted
Jim Moroney Newspapers have to be good enough for readers to pay for
Luke O'Neil The end is already here
Rubina Madan Fillion Unlocking the potential of AI
Carrie Brown-Smith Transparency finally takes off
Kathleen McElroy Building a news video experience native to mobile
Juleyka Lantigua Women of color will reclaim and monetize our time
Corey Johnson The pro-fact resistance
Julia Beizer A longer view on the pivot
Francesco Marconi The year of machine-to-machine journalism
Susie Banikarim R.I.P. Pivot to Video (2017–2017)
Ray Soto VR reaches the next level
Basile Simon We need better career paths for news nerds
Kyle Ellis Let’s build our way out of this
Adam Thomas Sharing is caring: The year of the mentor
Cristina Wilson The year of the Instagram Story
Doris Truong Computer vision vs. the Internet vigilantes