I dream about making journalism better. About rejuvenating democracy. About responding to people’s needs with the research, reporting, and dialogue to help them better navigate their lives and work together to tackle big problems. To pursue these dreams in 2020, we’ll need to let go of our fears and get a little more comfortable with confrontation.
It starts in the newsroom, where we need to talk more often and more openly about the state of journalism and how we fit into it. The challenges are many, and we need to include everyone — journalists and non-journalists, news loyalists and news avoiders — as we explore our values and search for solutions.
Discussing the future of journalism and acknowledging others’ values will undoubtedly reveal differences and divisions. Our responsibility, then, will be to embrace them and find paths forward. There is no singular, superior way to do this as long as we put our audiences and communities first.
Meanwhile — and this is going to sound ridiculously obvious — we must learn new things and try new things. No, not just the project team over there. Not just that digital whiz. Everyone. I wish I didn’t have to say that in 2020, but the reality is that too many newsrooms are still failing to innovate in ways that will sustain journalism into the future. We all can — and should — get better.
So you start small and test things out within the boundaries of your organization. Or you seek out the journalists who are trying out stuff that excites you and find ways to contribute. Whatever the context, we must create a healthy environment for learning, reflection and growth.
Fail. Talk about it. Adjust. Communicate it. Succeed. Celebrate it. You’re on your way.
Elizabeth Dunbar is a reporter at MPR News in St. Paul, Minnesota.
I dream about making journalism better. About rejuvenating democracy. About responding to people’s needs with the research, reporting, and dialogue to help them better navigate their lives and work together to tackle big problems. To pursue these dreams in 2020, we’ll need to let go of our fears and get a little more comfortable with confrontation.
It starts in the newsroom, where we need to talk more often and more openly about the state of journalism and how we fit into it. The challenges are many, and we need to include everyone — journalists and non-journalists, news loyalists and news avoiders — as we explore our values and search for solutions.
Discussing the future of journalism and acknowledging others’ values will undoubtedly reveal differences and divisions. Our responsibility, then, will be to embrace them and find paths forward. There is no singular, superior way to do this as long as we put our audiences and communities first.
Meanwhile — and this is going to sound ridiculously obvious — we must learn new things and try new things. No, not just the project team over there. Not just that digital whiz. Everyone. I wish I didn’t have to say that in 2020, but the reality is that too many newsrooms are still failing to innovate in ways that will sustain journalism into the future. We all can — and should — get better.
So you start small and test things out within the boundaries of your organization. Or you seek out the journalists who are trying out stuff that excites you and find ways to contribute. Whatever the context, we must create a healthy environment for learning, reflection and growth.
Fail. Talk about it. Adjust. Communicate it. Succeed. Celebrate it. You’re on your way.
Elizabeth Dunbar is a reporter at MPR News in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Kathleen Searles Pay more attention to attention
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen The business we want, not the business we had
Alexandra Borchardt Get out of the office and talk to people
Joni Deutsch Podcasting unsilences the silent
Rachel Glickhouse Journalists get left behind in the industry’s decline
J. Siguru Wahutu Western journalists, learn from your African peers
Michael W. Wagner Increasingly fractured, but little bit deliberative
Nathalie Malinarich Betting on loyalty
Jasmine McNealy A call for context
Mariana Moura Santos The future of journalism is collaborative
Barbara Gray Join local libraries on the frontlines of civic engagement
Jeff Kofman Speed through technology
Heidi Tworek The year of positive pushback
Colleen Shalby Journalists become media literacy teachers
Tanya Cordrey Saying no to more good ideas
Meg Marco Everything happens somewhere
Steve Henn The dawning audio web
Fiona Spruill The climate crisis gets the coverage it deserves
Eric Nuzum Podcasting finally creates another mega-hit show
Don Day Respect the non-paying audience
S. Mitra Kalita The race to 2021
Cory Haik We’re already consuming the future of news — now we have to produce it
Imaeyen Ibanga Let’s take it slow
Lucas Graves A smarter conversation about how (and why) fact-checking matters
Alfred Hermida and Mary Lynn Young The promise of nonprofit journalism
Doris Truong The year of radical salary transparency
Annie Rudd The expanded ambiguity of the news photograph
Elizabeth Hansen and Jesse Holcomb Local news initiatives run into a capital shortage
Sarah Alvarez I’m ready for post-news
Julia B. Chan We 👏 take 👏 breaks 👏
Brenda P. Salinas Treating MP3 files like text
Helen Havlak Platforms shine a light on original reporting
Hossein Derakhshan AI can’t conjure up an Errol Morris
Zizi Papacharissi A president leads, the press follows, reality fades
Tamar Charney From broadcast to bespoke
Lauren Duca The rise of the journalistic influencer
Irving Washington Leadership isn’t something you learn on the job
Jonas Kaiser Russian bots are just today’s slacktivists
Ben Werdmuller Use the tools of journalism to save it
Christa Scharfenberg It’s time to make journalism a field that supports and respects women
Candis Callison Taking a cue from Indigenous journalists on climate change
Victor Pickard We reclaim a public good
Joe Amditis Collaborative journalism takes its rightful place at the table
Raney Aronson-Rath News deserts will proliferate — but so will new solutions
Dannagal G. Young Let’s disrupt the logic that’s driving Americans apart
Beena Raghavendran The year of the local engagement reporter
Nushin Rashidian Are platforms a bridge or a lifeline?
Joanne McNeil A return to blogs (finally? sort of?)
Seth C. Lewis 20 questions for 2020
Elizabeth Dunbar Frank talk, and then action
Peter Bale Lies get further normalized
Monica Drake A renewed focus on misinformation
Simon Galperin Journalism becomes more democratic
Linda Solomon Wood Everyone in your organization, moving toward a common goal
Masuma Ahuja Slower, quieter, more measured and thoughtful
Sara K. Baranowski A big year for little newspapers
Kourtney Bitterly Transparency isn’t just a desire, it’s an expectation
Nicholas Jackson What’s left of local gets comfortable with reader support
Dan Shanoff Sports media enters the Bronny era
Emily Withrow The year we kill the news article
Margarita Noriega The platforms try to figure out what to do with single-subject newsrooms
Monique Judge The year to organize, unionize, and fight
Talia Stroud The work of reconnecting starts November 4
Sue Robinson Campaign coverage as test bed for engagement experiments
Catalina Albeanu Rebuilding journalism, together
Mike Caulfield Native verification tools for the blue checkmark crowd
Geneva Overholser Death to bothsidesism
Carrie Brown-Smith Engaged journalism: It’s finally happening
Joshua P. Darr All that campaign cash will make the media’s problems worse
Moreno Cruz Osório In Brazil, collaboration in a time of state attacks
Jeremy Gilbert and Jarrod Dicker A call for collaboration between storytelling and tech
John Garrett It’s the best time in a century to start a local news organization
Francesco Zaffarano TikTok without generational prejudice
Bill Grueskin Our ethics codes get an overhaul
Ernie Smith The death of the industry fad
Mario García Think small (screen)
Richard Tofel A constraint of the reader-revenue model emerges
A.J. Bauer A fork in the road for conservative media
Rachel Davis Mersey The business of local TV news will enter its downward slide
Matthew Pressman News consumers divide into haves and have-nots
Anthony Nadler Clash of Clans: Election Edition
Gordon Crovitz Fighting misinformation requires journalism, not secret algorithms
Sonali Prasad Climate change storytelling gets multidimensional
Alice Antheaume Trade “politics” for “power”
Felix Salmon Spotify launches a news channel
Rick Berke Incoming fire from both left and right
Heather Bryant Some kinds of journalism aren’t worth saving
Jennifer Brandel A love letter from the year 2073
Jakob Moll A slow-moving tech backlash among young people
Tonya Mosley The neutrality vs. objectivity game ends
Sarah Marshall The year to learn about news moments
Kerri Hoffman Opening closed systems
Stefanie Murray Charitable giving goes collaborative
Knight Foundation Five generations of journalists, learning from each other
John Keefe Journalism gets hacked
An Xiao Mina The Forum we wanted, the forum we got
Cristina Kim Public media stops trying to serve “everybody”
Mary Walter-Brown and Tristan Loper Power to the people (on your audience team)
Kristen Muller The year we operationalize community engagement
Kevin D. Grant The free press stands against authoritarians’ attacks on truth
Cindy Royal Prepare media students for skills, not job titles
Jim Brady We’ll complain about other people living in bubbles while ignoring our own
Ståle Grut OSINT journalism goes mainstream
Rachel Schallom The value of push alerts goes beyond open rates
Mira Lowe The year of student-powered journalism
Meredith Artley Stronger solidarity among news organizations
Nico Gendron Make better products if you want to reach Gen Z
Jake Shapiro Podcasting gets listener relationship management
Pablo Boczkowski The day after November 4
Sarah Stonbely More people start caring about news inequality
Whitney Phillips A time to question core beliefs
Craig Newmark Formalizing newsrooms’ battle against disinformation
Logan Jaffe You don’t need fancy tools to listen
Juleyka Lantigua A changing industry amps up podcasters’ ambitions
Greg Emerson News apps fall further behind
Jeremy Olshan All journalism should be service journalism
Alana Levinson Brand-backed media gets another look
Bill Adair A Nobel Prize, a Brad Pitt film, and a Taylor Swift song
M. Scott Havens First-party data becomes media’s most important currency
Brian Moritz The end of “stick to sports”
Carl Bialik Journalists will try running the whole shop
Errin Haines Race and gender aren’t a 2020 story — they’re the story
Sarah Schmalbach Journalist, quantify thyself
Logan Molyneux and Shannon McGregor Think twice before turning to Twitter
Matt DeRienzo Local broadcasters begin to fill the gaps left by newspapers
Laura E. Davis Know the context your journalism is operating within
Tom Glaisyer Journalism can emerge newly vibrant and powerful
Josh Schwartz Publishers move beyond the metered paywall
Madelyn Sanfilippo and Yafit Lev-Aretz News coverage gets geo-fragmented