I have a jacket emblazoned with the phrase, “Suffering from realness.” The quote, if you didn’t already know, is from rapper and noted footwear purveyor Kanye West. His prose likely had nothing at all to do with the state of journalism,1 but that’s exactly why I had it airbrushed. I, along with two other of my best journo friends, co-opted Kanye to make cryptically public the commitment to powering through the tumultuous publishing seas for something worthy.
Pivoting to video, forsaking O&O for distributed, hiring growth hackers, pursuing OTT, new ad products, subscriptions, live, visual — you name it. None of these things are inherently bad — all mere tactics in our transition. And yet they are villainized, by, well, us. 2018 will be no exception. However, here’s betting that it will also be a moment when the tide turns in favor of thinking about impact — realness — in a new way. The winners will be the ones who have built a meaningful journalistic report that transcends, and likely capitalizes on, the platform moment.
Out of the darkest moments come some of the best. Take the Weinstein effect and the speed at which those stories traveled. The entire #metoo network effect is impact at a pace and scale previously unimaginable. Yes, our business model is far from settled. But do not think for a moment that this sea change would be possible without platforms that reach 2 billion people. Sure, it comes with a high cost to businesses that once reaped a 60 percent margin. But the impact potential is even greater.
If you are existentially vexed about all of this, the question to ask yourself as it is all happening around you: Are you pivoting to impact? This might sound trite, but I mean it sincerely. Below, a starter “pivot to impact” moral compass!
If you are a journalist: Have you recently revealed something to your audience that they likely didn’t know before that helps them understand the context of our changing world? Important bonus: Did you try to make it reach as many people as possible?
If you work in product: Did you build something that people want, that possibly helps enable the above? (h/t @MarcusMoretti)
If you work on revenue: Are you focusing on how your publication can uniquely serve users or advertisers?
If you are a platform: Have you worked with a publishing partner either on helping to monetize their existing body of work or offered to pay them for their expert services? Have you worked to battle fake news?
In all seriousness, I am a believer in where we are headed and the good work that’s being done along the way. That’s not to dismiss the challenges and tough calls required to get there. I’ll leave you with a line I often recite to myself and to my teams: If you focus on the story and focus on the user, you will not lose. I am betting on 2018 to value this anew.
Cory Haik is publisher of Mic.
Sydette Harry Listen to your corner and watch for the hook
Tanya Cordrey Finally, the seeds of radical reinvention
An Xiao Mina Memes and visuals come to the fore
Tracie Powell The muting of underserved voices
Bill Keller A growing turn to philanthropy
Julia B. Chan Looking for loyalty in all the right places
Federica Cherubini The rise of bridge roles in news organizations
Ståle Grut Reclaiming audience interaction from social networks
Jennifer Brandel and Mónica Guzmán The editorial meeting of the future
Mandy Velez texting is lit rn, fam
Tamar Charney We get serious about algorithms
Vanessa K. DeLuca Women’s voices take center stage
Mike Caulfield Refactoring media literacy for the networked age
Pablo Boczkowski The rise of skeptical reading
Pia Frey Address users as individuals
S. Mitra Kalita The arc of news and audience
Mariana Moura Santos Think local, act global
Lam Thuy Vo Breaking free from the tyranny of the loudest
Rodney Gibbs Tech workers turn to journalism
Mariano Blejman News games rule
Sarah Marshall Loyalty as the key performance indicator
Michael Kuntz The only pivot that might work
Amie Ferris-Rotman More female reporters abroad (please)
Carrie Brown-Smith Transparency finally takes off
C.W. Anderson The social media apocalypse
Borja Echevarría TV goes digital, digital goes TV
Pete Brown Push alerts, personalized
Jared Newman Venture funding and digital news don’t mix
Dheerja Kaur Fun with subscription products
Jennifer Choi Standing up for us and for each other
Vivian Schiller Pivot to tomorrow
Nikki Usher The year of The Washington Post
Kristen Muller The year of the voter
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen The Snapchat scenario and the risk of more closed platforms
Matt Thompson Here come the attention managers
Jim Moroney Newspapers have to be good enough for readers to pay for
Caitria O'Neill The new court of public opinion
Kinsey Wilson Facebook and Google: Help out or pay up
Jessica Parker Gilbert Design connects storytelling and strategy
Alan Soon The rise of start of psychographic, micro-targeted media
Raju Narisetti Mirror, mirror on the wall
Feli Sánchez The year for guerrilla user research
Marie Gilot No assholes allowed
Helen Havlak Keywords, not publishers, power the world’s biggest feeds
Gordon Crovitz Serving readers over advertisers
Jarrod Dicker Honesty in advertising
Andrew Haeg The year journalists become relationship builders
Michelle Garcia Navigating journalistic transparency
Mi-Ai Parrish Blockchain and trust
Kyle Ellis Let’s build our way out of this
Matt DeRienzo A recession, then a collapse
Matt Carlson Attacks on the press will get worse
Susie Banikarim R.I.P. Pivot to Video (2017–2017)
Will Sommer The year local media gets conservative
Renée Kaplan The year of quiet adjustments (shhh)
Dan Shanoff You down with OTT? (Yeah, DTC)
Justin Kosslyn The year journalists become digital security experts
Sam Sanders Shine the light on ourselves
Basile Simon We need better career paths for news nerds
José Zamora Revenue-first journalism
Craig Newmark Working together toward sustainable solutions
Manoush Zomorodi Self-help as a publishing strategy
Felix Salmon Covering bitcoin while owning bitcoin
Amy Webb Listen to weak signals
Adam Thomas Sharing is caring: The year of the mentor
Amy King Let’s amplify visual voice
Mira Lowe The year of the local watchdog
Julia Beizer A longer view on the pivot
Eric Nuzum Beyond the narrative arc
Juleyka Lantigua Women of color will reclaim and monetize our time
Nicholas Quah Stop talking trash about young people
Joanne Lipman Journalists inventing revenue streams
Monique Judge Letting black women tell their own stories
Ernst-Jan Pfauth Publishing less to give readers more
Raney Aronson-Rath Transparency is the antidote to fake news
Steve Grove The midterms are an opportunity
Kathleen McElroy Building a news video experience native to mobile
P. Kim Bui The reckoning is only beginning
Corey Johnson The pro-fact resistance
Hannah Cassius The year of the echo-chamber escapists
Kim Fox Audience teams diversify their approach
Alexios Mantzarlis Moving fake news research out of the lab
Imaeyen Ibanga Longform video leads the way
Rachel Schallom Better design helps differentiate opinion and news
Damon Krukowski Reviving the alt-weekly soul
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Seeking trust in fragmented spaces
Taylor Lorenz Social and media will split
Umbreen Bhatti The trust problem isn’t new
Ruth Palmer Risks will grow for news subjects — especially minorities
Lucas Graves From algorithms to institutions
Niketa Patel Live journalism comes of age
Debra Adams Simmons And a woman shall lead them
David Skok Finding an information-life balance
Trushar Barot The Jio-fication of India
Errin Haines At the ballot, it’s time to count black women
Joanne McNeil Gatekeeping the gatekeepers
Andrew Losowsky The year of resilience
Emma Carew Grovum Newsroom culture becomes a priority
Nushin Rashidian Publishers seek ad dollar alternatives
Jacqui Cheng Retailers move into content
Jamie Mottram From pageviews to t-shirts
Mario García Storytelling finally adapts to mobile
Marcela Donini and Thiago Herdy Collaboration is the way forward for Brazilian journalism
Rubina Madan Fillion Unlocking the potential of AI
Alfred Hermida Going beyond mobile-first
Molly de Aguiar Good journalism won’t be enough
Zizi Papacharissi Women come back
Hossein Derakhshan Television has won
Aron Pilhofer We can’t leave the business to the business side any more
Claire Wardle Disinformation gets worse
Monika Bauerlein The firehose of falsehood
Tanzina Vega It’s time for media companies to #PassTheMic
Sara M. Watson Feeds will open up to new user-determined filters
Cindy Royal Your journalism curriculum is obsolete
Brian Lam Sketchy ethics around product reviews
Carlos Martínez de la Serna The new journalism commons
Cory Haik Suffering from realness, pivoting to impact
Elizabeth Jensen Show your work
Alice Antheaume Are you fluent in AI?
Charo Henríquez Training is an investment, not an expense
Yvonne Leow The rise of video messaging
Richard Tofel The platforms’ power demands more reporters’ attention
Daniel Trielli The rich get richer, the poor scramble
Matt Boggie The intellectual equivalent of the Dead Sea
Corey Ford The empire strikes back
Lanre Akinola Making noise is not a strategy
Luke O'Neil The end is already here
Edward Roussel Eyes, ears, and brains
Eric Ulken The year local publishers get smart(er) about change
Jesse Holcomb Information disorder, coming to a congressional district near you
Cristina Wilson The year of the Instagram Story
Caitlin Thompson Podcasting models mature and diversify
Michelle Ferrier The year of the great reckoning
Rodney Benson Better, less read, and less trusted
Alastair Coote The year of self-improvement
Francesco Marconi The year of machine-to-machine journalism
Tim Carmody Watch out for Spotify
Dannagal G. Young Stop covering politics as a game
Doris Truong Computer vision vs. the Internet vigilantes
Nicholas Diakopoulos Fortifying social media from automated inauthenticity
Kawandeep Virdee Zines had it right all along
Jassim Ahmad Thriving on change
Jim Brady With the people, not just of the people
Miguel Castro The arrival of the impact producer
Andrew Ramsammy The year ownership mattered
Laura E. Davis Writing answers before you know the question
Mary Meehan Real lives are at stake in rural areas
Betsy O'Donovan and Melody Kramer Skepticism and narcissism
Ray Soto VR reaches the next level
Millie Tran and Stine Bauer Dahlberg (Hint: It’s about your brand)
Rick Berke Value is the watchword
Jennifer Coogan The future is female
Joyce Barnathan It will be harder to bury the news
Christopher Meighan Passive partnership is in the rearview
Frédéric Filloux External forces
Rachel Davis Mersey AI, with real smarts
Heather Bryant Building the ecosystems for collaboration
Juliette De Maeyer A responsible press criticism
Sam Ford The year of investing in processes