In 2023, I hope newsrooms understand why audiences are tuning us out and try to do something about it besides stoking another Trump bump.
Journalism today is still executed largely like the journalism of yesterday, from tone to format to process. News is defined by conflict, stories boiled down to two warring sides, presented by a distant, omniscient narrator in order of most important to least important information. The approach basically ends up telling readers: Everything sucks. Good luck to you.
It’s no wonder that news consumption is plummeting and users are left feeling confused or overwhelmed. There are better ways. I share two below from my experiences running Epicenter-NYC and URL Media — with a warning on why the problem stands to get even worse.
You learned the five Ws in journalism school — the questions that every story must answer. At Epicenter-NYC, a newsletter launched to help New Yorkers get through the pandemic that has evolved into a multi-platform community media outlet, we ask one more of sources, whether they are in line at a food pantry or a multimillionaire entrepreneur on a panel: What do you need?
In turn, the stories we produce, whether in article or bullet form, a video or podcast or flyer, anticipate and preemptively address the concern of users and try to answer it: What can I do?
We don’t want you to feel helpless or depressed reading the news. These two fundamental tweaks to our reporting and editing process, searching for needs and offering actions, have made our work much more relevant, distinctive, personal and positive.
Journalists often compete with each other. But the last few years have seen a rise in cohorts, collaborations, and cooperation. Ever less-resourced newsrooms see the value of creating economies of scale. Already, there are many examples of this, including URL Media, the network we run of 16 high-performing Black and Brown media organizations. By sharing content, our newsrooms feel less small, sure, but we also embrace the overlaps of our audience. We know if you are a worker trying to navigate receiving unemployment benefits, you’re more likely to seek out multiple stories on the subject. In that particular scenario, after writing about the issue for each of their respective outlets, Epicenter-NYC’s reporter Andrea Pineda Salgado teamed up with Documented’s Rommel H. Ojeda to write a story based on workers’ WhatsApp messages to the latter. The collaboration was not rooted in anyone telling them to join forces but rather in the belief that their audiences could benefit from the others’ expertise, platform and distribution.
Our outlets are focused on service to our communities. And so collaboration feels less contrived than necessary. In the process of uplifting our audiences, we are uplifting each other. We feel so strongly about this that we built that mission into our name: URL stands for Uplift, Respect and Love. These actions inform every aspect of our company, and we believe they also send a signal to users on the role we hope to play in each other’s lives.
Going digital is not enough
The pace of change is faster than we can keep up with. I could have had a bot write this prediction (my lazy friend Bill Grueskin beat me to it). In the midst of AI, metaverses and 1,427 platforms claiming to be the next Twitter, legacy newsrooms are still trying to get staff to embrace being “digital first.” Mainstream media are ill prepared for what’s to come. I’ve staked my future on this: The sincere commitment to serve direct, defined audiences and the convening power of multi-platform networks acknowledging overlapping communities in order to achieve scale might give us at least a fighting chance.
S. Mitra Kalita is the co-founder and publisher of Epicenter-NYC and the co-founder and CEO of URL Media.
In 2023, I hope newsrooms understand why audiences are tuning us out and try to do something about it besides stoking another Trump bump.
Journalism today is still executed largely like the journalism of yesterday, from tone to format to process. News is defined by conflict, stories boiled down to two warring sides, presented by a distant, omniscient narrator in order of most important to least important information. The approach basically ends up telling readers: Everything sucks. Good luck to you.
It’s no wonder that news consumption is plummeting and users are left feeling confused or overwhelmed. There are better ways. I share two below from my experiences running Epicenter-NYC and URL Media — with a warning on why the problem stands to get even worse.
You learned the five Ws in journalism school — the questions that every story must answer. At Epicenter-NYC, a newsletter launched to help New Yorkers get through the pandemic that has evolved into a multi-platform community media outlet, we ask one more of sources, whether they are in line at a food pantry or a multimillionaire entrepreneur on a panel: What do you need?
In turn, the stories we produce, whether in article or bullet form, a video or podcast or flyer, anticipate and preemptively address the concern of users and try to answer it: What can I do?
We don’t want you to feel helpless or depressed reading the news. These two fundamental tweaks to our reporting and editing process, searching for needs and offering actions, have made our work much more relevant, distinctive, personal and positive.
Journalists often compete with each other. But the last few years have seen a rise in cohorts, collaborations, and cooperation. Ever less-resourced newsrooms see the value of creating economies of scale. Already, there are many examples of this, including URL Media, the network we run of 16 high-performing Black and Brown media organizations. By sharing content, our newsrooms feel less small, sure, but we also embrace the overlaps of our audience. We know if you are a worker trying to navigate receiving unemployment benefits, you’re more likely to seek out multiple stories on the subject. In that particular scenario, after writing about the issue for each of their respective outlets, Epicenter-NYC’s reporter Andrea Pineda Salgado teamed up with Documented’s Rommel H. Ojeda to write a story based on workers’ WhatsApp messages to the latter. The collaboration was not rooted in anyone telling them to join forces but rather in the belief that their audiences could benefit from the others’ expertise, platform and distribution.
Our outlets are focused on service to our communities. And so collaboration feels less contrived than necessary. In the process of uplifting our audiences, we are uplifting each other. We feel so strongly about this that we built that mission into our name: URL stands for Uplift, Respect and Love. These actions inform every aspect of our company, and we believe they also send a signal to users on the role we hope to play in each other’s lives.
Going digital is not enough
The pace of change is faster than we can keep up with. I could have had a bot write this prediction (my lazy friend Bill Grueskin beat me to it). In the midst of AI, metaverses and 1,427 platforms claiming to be the next Twitter, legacy newsrooms are still trying to get staff to embrace being “digital first.” Mainstream media are ill prepared for what’s to come. I’ve staked my future on this: The sincere commitment to serve direct, defined audiences and the convening power of multi-platform networks acknowledging overlapping communities in order to achieve scale might give us at least a fighting chance.
S. Mitra Kalita is the co-founder and publisher of Epicenter-NYC and the co-founder and CEO of URL Media.
Julia Angwin Democracies will get serious about saving journalism
Brian Moritz Rebuilding the news bundle
David Skok Renewed interest in human-powered reporting
Cassandra Etienne Local news fellowships will help fight newsroom inequities
Jacob L. Nelson Despite it all, people will still want to be journalists
Joni Deutsch Podcast collaboration — not competition — breeds excellence
Barbara Raab More journalism funders will take more risks
Laxmi Parthasarathy Unlocking the silent demand for international journalism
Susan Chira Equipping local journalism
Tim Carmody Newsletter writers need a new ethics
Dominic-Madori Davis Everyone finally realizes the need for diverse voices in tech reporting
Mario García More newsrooms go mobile-first
Jarrad Henderson Video editing will help people understand the media they consume
Burt Herman The year AI truly arrives — and with it the reckoning
Upasna Gautam Technology that performs at the speed of news
Amethyst J. Davis The slight of the great contraction
Michael W. Wagner The backlash against pro-democracy reporting is coming
Cindy Royal Yes, journalists should learn to code, but…
Jenna Weiss-Berman The economic downturn benefits the podcasting industry. (No, really!)
Walter Frick Journalists wake up to the power of prediction markets
Eric Nuzum A focus on people instead of power
Ryan Gantz “I’m sorry, but I’m a large language model”
Jody Brannon We’ll embrace policy remedies
Hillary Frey Death to the labor-intensive memo for prospective hires
Jesse Holcomb Buffeted, whipped, bullied, pulled
Sarah Marshall A web channel strategy won’t be enough
Eric Thurm Journalists think of themselves as workers
Pia Frey Publishers start polling their users at scale
Alex Perry New paths to transparency without Twitter
Kaitlyn Wells We’ll prioritize media literacy for children
Al Lucca Digital news design gets interesting again
Sarah Alvarez Dream bigger or lose out
Andrew Losowsky Journalism realizes the replacement for Twitter is not a new Twitter
Sam Gregory Synthetic media forces us to understand how media gets made
Kathy Lu We need emotionally agile newsroom leaders
Wilson Liévano Diaspora journalism takes the next step
Sarah Stonbely Growth in public funding for news and information at the state and local levels
Amy Schmitz Weiss Journalism education faces a crossroads
J. Siguru Wahutu American journalism reckons with its colonialist tendencies
Tre'vell Anderson Continued culpability in anti-trans campaigns
Anthony Nadler Confronting media gerrymandering
Mariana Moura Santos A woman who speaks is a woman who changes the world
Larry Ryckman We’ll work together with our competitors
Masuma Ahuja Journalism starts working for and with its communities
Errin Haines Journalists on the campaign trail mend trust with the public
Leezel Tanglao Community partnerships drive better reporting
Molly de Aguiar and Mandy Van Deven Narrative change trend brings new money to journalism
Dannagal G. Young Stop rewarding elite performances of identity threat
Megan Lucero and Shirish Kulkarni The future of journalism is not you
Anika Anand Independent news businesses lead the way on healthy work cultures
Emily Nonko Incarcerated reporters get more bylines
Jaden Amos TikTok personality journalists continue to rise
Sue Cross Thinking and acting collectively to save the news
Basile Simon Towards supporting criminal accountability
Ayala Panievsky It’s time for PR for journalism
Ryan Nave Citizen journalism, but make it equitable
Kerri Hoffman Podcasting goes local
Gina Chua The traditional story structure gets deconstructed
Joanne McNeil Facebook and the media kiss and make up
Janelle Salanga Journalists work from a place of harm reduction
Taylor Lorenz The “creator economy” will be astroturfed
Cari Nazeer and Emily Goligoski News organizations step up their support for caregivers
Delano Massey The industry shakes its imposter syndrome
Francesco Zaffarano There is no end of “social media”
Esther Kezia Thorpe Subscription pressures force product innovation
Sam Guzik AI will start fact-checking. We may not like the results.
Eric Holthaus As social media fragments, marginalized voices gain more power
Nicholas Jackson There will be launches — and we’ll keep doing the work
Jim VandeHei There is no “peak newsletter”
Don Day The news about the news is bad. I’m optimistic.
AX Mina Journalism in a time of permacrisis
Laura E. Davis The year we embrace the robots — and ourselves
Doris Truong Workers demand to be paid what the job is worth
Cory Bergman The AI content flood
Peter Bale Rising costs force more digital innovation
Anna Nirmala News organizations get new structures
Jakob Moll Journalism startups will think beyond English
Gordon Crovitz The year advertisers stop funding misinformation
Mar Cabra The inevitable mental health revolution
Khushbu Shah Global reporting will suffer
Felicitas Carrique and Becca Aaronson News product goes from trend to standard
Juleyka Lantigua Newsrooms recognize women of color as the canaries in the coal mine
Jennifer Choi and Jonathan Jackson Funders finally bet on next-generation news entrepreneurs
Daniel Trielli Trust in news will continue to fall. Just look at Brazil.
Jonas Kaiser Rejecting the “free speech” frame
Alexandra Svokos Working harder to reach audiences where they are
Ryan Kellett Airline-like loyalty programs try to tie down news readers
Joe Amditis AI throws a lifeline to local publishers
Tamar Charney Flux is the new stability
John Davidow A year of intergenerational learning
Rachel Glickhouse Humanizing newsrooms will be a badge of honor
Nikki Usher This is the year of the RSS reader. (Really!)
Moreno Cruz Osório Brazilian journalism turns wounds into action
Johannes Klingebiel The innovation team, R.I.P.
Christina Shih Shared values move from nice-to-haves to essentials
Janet Haven ChatGPT and the future of trust
Matt Rasnic More newsroom workers turn to organized labor
Sue Schardt Toward a new poetics of journalism
Alex Sujong Laughlin Credit where it’s due
Bill Adair The year of the fact-check (no, really!)
Emma Carew Grovum The year to resist forgetting about diversity
Nicholas Diakopoulos Journalists productively harness generative AI tools
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Well-being will become a core tenet of journalism
Victor Pickard The year journalism and capitalism finally divorce
Richard Tofel The press might get better at vetting presidential candidates
Kavya Sukumar Belling the cat: The rise of independent fact-checking at scale
Parker Molloy We’ll reach new heights of moral panic
Ariel Zirulnick Journalism doubles down on user needs
Dana Lacey Tech will screw publishers over
Danielle K. Brown and Kathleen Searles DEI efforts must consider mental health and online abuse
Paul Cheung More news organizations will realize they are in the business of impact, not eyeballs
Karina Montoya More reporters on the antitrust beat
Lisa Heyamoto The independent news industry gets a roadmap to sustainability
Brian Stelter Finding new ways to reach news avoiders
Jim Friedlich Local journalism steps up to the challenge of civic coverage
Ståle Grut Your newsroom experiences a Midjourney-gate, too
Alexandra Borchardt The year of the climate journalism strategy
Gabe Schneider Well-funded journalism leaders stop making disparate pay
Jessica Clark Open discourse retrenches
Christoph Mergerson The rot at the core of the news business
Shanté Cosme The answer to “quiet quitting” is radical empathy
Elite Truong In platform collapse, an opportunity for community
S. Mitra Kalita “Everything sucks. Good luck to you.”
Priyanjana Bengani Partisan local news networks will collaborate
Mauricio Cabrera It’s no longer about audiences, it’s about communities
Alan Henry A reckoning with why trust in news is so low
Martina Efeyini Talk to Gen Z. They’re the experts of Gen Z.
Raney Aronson-Rath Journalists will band together to fight intimidation
Julia Beizer News fatigue shows us a clear path forward
Simon Galperin Philanthropy stops investing in corporate media
Zizi Papacharissi Platforms are over
Mael Vallejo More threats to press freedom across the Americas
Surya Mattu Data journalists learn from photojournalists
Sue Robinson Engagement journalism will have to confront a tougher reality
Sarabeth Berman Nonprofit local news shows that it can scale
Snigdha Sur Newsrooms get nimble in a recession
Elizabeth Bramson-Boudreau More of the same
Kirstin McCudden We’ll codify protection of journalism and newsgathering
Jessica Maddox Journalists keep getting manipulated by internet culture
Nicholas Thompson The year AI actually changes the media business
Kaitlin C. Miller Harassment in journalism won’t get better, but we’ll talk about it more openly
Ben Werdmuller The internet is up for grabs again
David Cohn AI made this prediction
Michael Schudson Journalism gets more and more difficult
Joshua P. Darr Local to live, wire to wither
Jennifer Brandel AI couldn’t care less. Journalists will care more.
Stefanie Murray The year U.S. media stops screwing around and becomes pro-democracy
Sumi Aggarwal Smart newsrooms will prioritize board development
Peter Sterne AI enters the newsroom
Josh Schwartz The AI spammers are coming
Andrew Donohue We’ll find out whether journalism can, indeed, save democracy
Bill Grueskin Local news will come to rely on AI
Anita Varma Journalism prioritizes the basic need for survival
Mary Walter-Brown and Tristan Loper Mission-driven metrics become our North Star