In 2020, we saw the lines between journalists and digital creators continue to evaporate.
Traditional writers have adopted influencer tactics, growing their own audiences online and leveraging direct distribution channels to promote their work. A slew of high-profile writers have also left traditional media companies to launch independent businesses on digital platforms like Substack. Other journalists have built up careers as successful podcasters and YouTubers, or are relying on subscription platforms like Patreon to fund their reporting.
Two years ago, I predicted this shift, writing about the rise of the journalist influencer and how more journalists will recognize and harness the opportunity to own and monetize their personal brands.
But in 2021, I believe we’ll see the dark side of this movement. Right now, I believe we’re in a honeymoon period, with many independent journalists still starry-eyed over the promise of digital platforms like Substack, Patreon, YouTube, and more. But the more journalists become digital creators, the more they’ll become subject to the type of struggles mainstream influencers have been dealing with for years.
One is burnout. As any freelancer knows, being your own boss doesn’t come with built-in vacation days. In 2018, top internet creators burned out and broke down en masse, buckling under the pressure of having to satisfy their audiences with regular content. Substack encourages a similar mentality. Writers must write and publish regularly to maintain a paid subscriber base, and that work can be exhausting.
As more journalists become digital creators, they’ll also recognize the precarity of building a business on a tech platform. YouTubers know this well; many have weathered multiple storms that reduced their income overnight. Journalist influencers will need to walk the same tightrope. Veer too far into commentary, and you could be subject to stricter community guidelines. Building a news page on Instagram is all good and fine until the platform launches a new feature that throttles your reach.
These shifts will also force journalist influencers to adapt, potentially faster than they’re used to. Successful digital creators are chameleons who can shift the nature of their content to ever-changing trends, features, and platforms. Journalist influencers will have to be as nimble and comfortable producing reporting in a variety of formats.
Tending to your fan base as a creator is also key. Successful independent journalists will realize how difficult it can be to strike the right balance between cultivating enough of an audience to effectively monetize and becoming beholden to their whims. Many influencers have seen their careers destroyed over public missteps and backlash from fans, while others have emerged from cancellations more powerful than before. Undoubtedly, some journalists will face similar struggles.
Navigating all of these challenges alone can be grueling, which is why so many digital creators collaborate, form groups, and, in some cases, live together. While I shudder at the thought of a journalist-influencer Hype House, I do think we’ll see more collaboration between independent media figures. Already, some Substack writers are bundling their newsletters. I think more like-minded personal media brands will form mutually supportive allegiances and collaborative groups.
Just as an entire industry of secondary workers has formed around YouTubers, TikTok stars, and streamers, we’ll also see more supporting jobs crop up to support this new class of journalist/creators. Perhaps the new entry-level media job will be editing a big-name writer’s Substack, or helping an independent journalist with their Patreon podcast launch.
The good news for anyone in traditional media seeking to stake out on their own is that generations of digital creators have paved the way. Internet culture writers have chronicled these struggles, which offer valuable lessons for navigating this new environment. But in 2021, I think we’ll see a lot of independent media figures learn things the hard way.
Taylor Lorenz is a technology reporter for The New York Times.
In 2020, we saw the lines between journalists and digital creators continue to evaporate.
Traditional writers have adopted influencer tactics, growing their own audiences online and leveraging direct distribution channels to promote their work. A slew of high-profile writers have also left traditional media companies to launch independent businesses on digital platforms like Substack. Other journalists have built up careers as successful podcasters and YouTubers, or are relying on subscription platforms like Patreon to fund their reporting.
Two years ago, I predicted this shift, writing about the rise of the journalist influencer and how more journalists will recognize and harness the opportunity to own and monetize their personal brands.
But in 2021, I believe we’ll see the dark side of this movement. Right now, I believe we’re in a honeymoon period, with many independent journalists still starry-eyed over the promise of digital platforms like Substack, Patreon, YouTube, and more. But the more journalists become digital creators, the more they’ll become subject to the type of struggles mainstream influencers have been dealing with for years.
One is burnout. As any freelancer knows, being your own boss doesn’t come with built-in vacation days. In 2018, top internet creators burned out and broke down en masse, buckling under the pressure of having to satisfy their audiences with regular content. Substack encourages a similar mentality. Writers must write and publish regularly to maintain a paid subscriber base, and that work can be exhausting.
As more journalists become digital creators, they’ll also recognize the precarity of building a business on a tech platform. YouTubers know this well; many have weathered multiple storms that reduced their income overnight. Journalist influencers will need to walk the same tightrope. Veer too far into commentary, and you could be subject to stricter community guidelines. Building a news page on Instagram is all good and fine until the platform launches a new feature that throttles your reach.
These shifts will also force journalist influencers to adapt, potentially faster than they’re used to. Successful digital creators are chameleons who can shift the nature of their content to ever-changing trends, features, and platforms. Journalist influencers will have to be as nimble and comfortable producing reporting in a variety of formats.
Tending to your fan base as a creator is also key. Successful independent journalists will realize how difficult it can be to strike the right balance between cultivating enough of an audience to effectively monetize and becoming beholden to their whims. Many influencers have seen their careers destroyed over public missteps and backlash from fans, while others have emerged from cancellations more powerful than before. Undoubtedly, some journalists will face similar struggles.
Navigating all of these challenges alone can be grueling, which is why so many digital creators collaborate, form groups, and, in some cases, live together. While I shudder at the thought of a journalist-influencer Hype House, I do think we’ll see more collaboration between independent media figures. Already, some Substack writers are bundling their newsletters. I think more like-minded personal media brands will form mutually supportive allegiances and collaborative groups.
Just as an entire industry of secondary workers has formed around YouTubers, TikTok stars, and streamers, we’ll also see more supporting jobs crop up to support this new class of journalist/creators. Perhaps the new entry-level media job will be editing a big-name writer’s Substack, or helping an independent journalist with their Patreon podcast launch.
The good news for anyone in traditional media seeking to stake out on their own is that generations of digital creators have paved the way. Internet culture writers have chronicled these struggles, which offer valuable lessons for navigating this new environment. But in 2021, I think we’ll see a lot of independent media figures learn things the hard way.
Taylor Lorenz is a technology reporter for The New York Times.
Ernie Smith Entrepreneurship on rails
Hossein Derakhshan Mass personalization of truth
Rishad Patel From direct-to-consumer to direct-to-believers
Joanne McNeil Newsrooms push back against Ivy League cronyism
Victor Pickard The commercial era for local journalism is over
Pia Frey Building growth through tastemakers and their communities
David Chavern Local video finally gets momentum
Joshua P. Darr Legislatures will tackle the local news crisis
Masuma Ahuja We’ll remember how interconnected our world is
Francesco Zaffarano The year we ask the audience what it needs
Rachel Schallom The rise of nonprofit journalism continues
Candis Callison Calling it a crisis isn’t enough (if it ever was)
Meredith D. Clark The year journalism starts paying reparations
Michael W. Wagner Fractured democracy, fractured journalism
Marissa Evans Putting community trauma into context
Steve Henn Has independent podcasting peaked?
Francesca Tripodi Don’t expect breaking up Google and Facebook to solve our information woes
Ray Soto The news gets spatial
Patrick Butler Covid-19 reporting has prepared us for cross-border collaboration
Ståle Grut Network analysis enters the journalism toolbox
Errin Haines Let’s normalize women’s leadership
Mark Stenberg The rise of the journalist-influencer
Colleen Shalby The definition of good journalism shifts
Ariel Zirulnick Local newsrooms question their paywalls
Charo Henríquez A new path to leadership
Imaeyen Ibanga Journalism gets unmasked
Tanya Cordrey Declining trust forces publishers to claim (or disclaim) values
Mike Ananny Toward better tech journalism
Bo Hee Kim Newsrooms create an intentional and collaborative culture
Nonny de la Pena News reaches the third dimension
Kevin D. Grant Parachute journalism goes away for good
Cherian George Enter the lamb warriors
Shaydanay Urbani and Nancy Watzman Local collaboration is key to slowing misinformation
Julia B. Chan and Kim Bui Millennials are ready to run things
Anna Nirmala Local news orgs grasp the urgency of community roots
Nicholas Jackson Blogging is back, but better
Sonali Prasad Making disaster journalism that cuts through the noise
Matt DeRienzo Citizen truth brigades steer us back toward reality
Laura E. Davis The focus turns to newsroom leaders for lasting change
Ben Werdmuller The web blooms again
Nisha Chittal The year we stop pivoting
Kristen Muller Engaged journalism scales
C.W. Anderson Journalism changed under Trump — will it keep changing under Biden?
Bill Adair The future of fact-checking is all about structured data
Andrew Ramsammy Stop being polite and start getting real
Janet Haven and Sam Hinds Is this an AI newsroom?
Danielle C. Belton A decimated media rededicates itself to truth
Eric Nuzum Podcasting dodged a bullet in 2020, but 2021 will be harder
Jennifer Brandel A sneak peak at power mapping, 2073’s top innovation
Jonas Kaiser Toward a wehrhafte journalism
Mariano Blejman It’s time to challenge autocompleted journalism
Rachel Glickhouse Journalists will be kinder to each other — and to themselves
Zainab Khan From understanding to feeling
Matt Skibinski Misinformation won’t stop unless we stop it
Alfred Hermida and Oscar Westlund The virus ups data journalism’s game
Jeremy Gilbert Human-centered journalism
Rodney Gibbs Zooming beyond talking heads
Jody Brannon People won’t renew
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen Stop pretending publishers are a united front
Benjamin Toff Beltway reporting gets normal again, for better and for worse
Chase Davis The year we look beyond The Story
Alicia Bell and Simon Galperin Media reparations now
Beena Raghavendran Journalism gets fused with art
Don Day Business first, journalism second
Jesse Holcomb Genre erosion in nonprofit journalism
Jacqué Palmer The rise of the plain-text email newsletter
Ben Collins We need to learn how to talk to (and about) accidental conspiracists
Juleyka Lantigua The download, podcasting’s metric king, gets dethroned
Megan McCarthy Readers embrace a low-information diet
Kate Myers My son will join every Zoom call in our industry
Linda Solomon Wood Canada steps up for journalism
Gordon Crovitz Common law will finally apply to the Internet
Sam Ford We’ll find better ways to archive our work
Logan Jaffe History as a reporting tool
Gabe Schneider Another year of empty promises on diversity
Stefanie Murray and Anthony Advincula Expect to see more translations and non-English content
Sarah Stonbely Videoconferencing brings more geographic diversity
Cory Bergman The year after a thousand earthquakes
Ariane Bernard Going solo is still only a path for the few
Nico Gendron Ask your readers to help build your products
Marcus Mabry News orgs adapt to a post-Trump world (with Trump still in it)
Astead W. Herndon The Trump-sized window of the media caring about race closes again
María Sánchez Díez Traffic will plummet — and it’ll be ok
Burt Herman Journalists build post-Facebook digital communities
Heidi Tworek A year of news mocktails
Raney Aronson-Rath To get past information divides, we need to understand them first
Taylor Lorenz Journalists will learn influencing isn’t easy
Natalie Meade Journalism enters rehab
John Garrett A surprisingly good year
Tonya Mosley True equity means ownership
Jer Thorp Fewer pixels, more cardboard
Amara Aguilar Journalism schools emphasize listening
Christoph Mergerson Black Americans will demand more from journalism
Nikki Usher Don’t expect an antitrust dividend for the media
An Xiao Mina 2020 isn’t a black swan — it’s a yellow canary
Marie Shanahan Journalism schools stop perpetuating the status quo
David Skok A pandemic-prompted wave of consolidation
Delia Cai Subscriptions start working for the middle
Kawandeep Virdee Goodbye, doomscroll
Loretta Chao Open up the profession
Kerri Hoffman Protecting podcasting’s open ecosystem
Celeste Headlee The rise of radical newsroom transparency
Richard Tofel Less on politics, more on how government works (or doesn’t)
Hadjar Benmiloud Get representative, or die trying
José Zamora Walking the talk on diversity
Anthony Nadler Journalism struggles to find a new model of legitimacy
Tim Carmody Spotify will make big waves in video
Joni Deutsch Local arts and music make journalism more joyous
Tauhid Chappell and Mike Rispoli Defund the crime beat
Alyssa Zeisler Holistic medicine for journalism
Zizi Papacharissi The year we rebuild the infrastructure of truth
John Saroff Covid sparks the growth of independent local news sites
M. Scott Havens Traditional pay TV will embrace the disruption
Aaron Foley Diversity gains haven’t shown up in local news
Tamar Charney Public radio has a midlife crisis
Annie Rudd Newsrooms grow less comfortable with the “view from above”
Mike Caulfield 2021’s misinformation will look a lot like 2020’s (and 2019’s, and…)
Sarah Marshall The year audiences need extra cheer
Moreno Cruz Osório In Brazil, a push for pluralism
Cindy Royal J-school grads maintain their optimism and adaptability
Gonzalo del Peon Collaborations expand from newsrooms to the business side
Brandy Zadrozny Misinformation fatigue sets in
John Davidow Reflect and repent
Jim Friedlich A newspaper renaissance reached by stopping the presses
Garance Franke-Ruta Rebundling content, rebuilding connections
Parker Molloy The press will risk elevating a Shadow President Trump
Sue Cross A global consensus around the kind of news we need to save
Mandy Jenkins You build trust by helping your readers
John Ketchum More journalists of color become newsroom founders
Jessica Clark News becomes plural
Brian Moritz The year sports journalism changes for good
Chicas Poderosas More voices mean better information
Renée Kaplan Falling in love with your subscription
Andrew Donohue The rise of the democracy beat
Robert Hernandez Data and shame
Jean Friedman-Rudovsky and Cassie Haynes A shift from conversation to action
Whitney Phillips Facts are an insufficient response to falsehoods
Catalina Albeanu Publish less, listen more
Jennifer Choi What have we done for you lately?
Ryan Kellett The bundle gets bundled
Sumi Aggarwal News literacy programs aren’t child’s play
Rick Berke Virtual events are here to stay
Nabiha Syed Newsrooms quit their toxic relationships
Doris Truong Indigenous issues get long-overdue mainstream coverage
Pablo Boczkowski Audiences have revolted. Will newsrooms adapt?
Samantha Ragland The year of journalists taking initiative
Talmon Joseph Smith The media rejects deficit hawkery
Julia Angwin Show your (computational) work
Mark S. Luckie Newsrooms and streaming services get cozy
Edward Roussel Tech companies get aggressive in local
A.J. Bauer The year of MAGAcal thinking
Ashton Lattimore Remote work helps level the playing field in an insular industry
Sara M. Watson Return of the RSS reader
J. Siguru Wahutu Journalists still wrongly think the U.S. is different