“How Would You Feel About A 100-Year-Old Doctor?”
This recent New York Times headline got me wondering if I was digital journalism’s version of a 100-year-old doctor. After all, I’m old enough to have my 50th high school reunion penciled in on my calendar for next year.
Why would Nieman Lab ask somebody as old as I am to predict the future of journalism?
My answer, as an AARP card-carrying Boomer, is that I’m predicting 2023 will be a year of intergenerational learning that will have a positive impact on the future of journalism. There is so much we can do together if we can build on the experiences that have shaped how we see the world and live our lives. Gen Xers, Millennials, Gen Zers, and Boomers, it’s time to join forces to make journalism that serves all of our communities and helps make our world a better place for all.
Here are some positive signs there is value in our hard-won gray hairs and wrinkles.
Admittedly, there are a lot of factors that could get in the way of my prediction coming true. One obvious one is that Boomers have the hubris to believe that we know what’s best. That’s just one of many justifiable reasons that our experience is undervalued. Members of my generation have had an unfair advantage due to our gender, race, and privilege. We may not even know what we don’t know or the harm we have caused.
That said, local news is in crisis. Public trust in journalism is at an all-time low. Our business model is failing. The first amendment is under attack. What does our industry have to lose? Maybe Boomers like me can leverage our experience to clean up some of the mess our generation created.
Check back with me next year to find out.
John Davidow is a founder of Media Bridge Partners.
“How Would You Feel About A 100-Year-Old Doctor?”
This recent New York Times headline got me wondering if I was digital journalism’s version of a 100-year-old doctor. After all, I’m old enough to have my 50th high school reunion penciled in on my calendar for next year.
Why would Nieman Lab ask somebody as old as I am to predict the future of journalism?
My answer, as an AARP card-carrying Boomer, is that I’m predicting 2023 will be a year of intergenerational learning that will have a positive impact on the future of journalism. There is so much we can do together if we can build on the experiences that have shaped how we see the world and live our lives. Gen Xers, Millennials, Gen Zers, and Boomers, it’s time to join forces to make journalism that serves all of our communities and helps make our world a better place for all.
Here are some positive signs there is value in our hard-won gray hairs and wrinkles.
Admittedly, there are a lot of factors that could get in the way of my prediction coming true. One obvious one is that Boomers have the hubris to believe that we know what’s best. That’s just one of many justifiable reasons that our experience is undervalued. Members of my generation have had an unfair advantage due to our gender, race, and privilege. We may not even know what we don’t know or the harm we have caused.
That said, local news is in crisis. Public trust in journalism is at an all-time low. Our business model is failing. The first amendment is under attack. What does our industry have to lose? Maybe Boomers like me can leverage our experience to clean up some of the mess our generation created.
Check back with me next year to find out.
John Davidow is a founder of Media Bridge Partners.
Ariel Zirulnick Journalism doubles down on user needs
Janet Haven ChatGPT and the future of trust
Joshua P. Darr Local to live, wire to wither
Victor Pickard The year journalism and capitalism finally divorce
Lisa Heyamoto The independent news industry gets a roadmap to sustainability
Karina Montoya More reporters on the antitrust beat
Nicholas Thompson The year AI actually changes the media business
Nikki Usher This is the year of the RSS reader. (Really!)
Jaden Amos TikTok personality journalists continue to rise
Emily Nonko Incarcerated reporters get more bylines
Sue Cross Thinking and acting collectively to save the news
Zizi Papacharissi Platforms are over
Emma Carew Grovum The year to resist forgetting about diversity
Richard Tofel The press might get better at vetting presidential candidates
Laxmi Parthasarathy Unlocking the silent demand for international journalism
Matt Rasnic More newsroom workers turn to organized labor
Cory Bergman The AI content flood
Mauricio Cabrera It’s no longer about audiences, it’s about communities
Jesse Holcomb Buffeted, whipped, bullied, pulled
Mael Vallejo More threats to press freedom across the Americas
Anthony Nadler Confronting media gerrymandering
John Davidow A year of intergenerational learning
Gordon Crovitz The year advertisers stop funding misinformation
Jessica Clark Open discourse retrenches
Cindy Royal Yes, journalists should learn to code, but…
Cassandra Etienne Local news fellowships will help fight newsroom inequities
Elizabeth Bramson-Boudreau More of the same
Julia Angwin Democracies will get serious about saving journalism
S. Mitra Kalita “Everything sucks. Good luck to you.”
Esther Kezia Thorpe Subscription pressures force product innovation
Eric Thurm Journalists think of themselves as workers
Al Lucca Digital news design gets interesting again
Josh Schwartz The AI spammers are coming
Francesco Zaffarano There is no end of “social media”
Jacob L. Nelson Despite it all, people will still want to be journalists
David Skok Renewed interest in human-powered reporting
Julia Beizer News fatigue shows us a clear path forward
Brian Moritz Rebuilding the news bundle
Raney Aronson-Rath Journalists will band together to fight intimidation
Surya Mattu Data journalists learn from photojournalists
Gabe Schneider Well-funded journalism leaders stop making disparate pay
Dana Lacey Tech will screw publishers over
Eric Nuzum A focus on people instead of power
Jim VandeHei There is no “peak newsletter”
Eric Ulken Generative AI brings wrongness at scale
Taylor Lorenz The “creator economy” will be astroturfed
Christina Shih Shared values move from nice-to-haves to essentials
Don Day The news about the news is bad. I’m optimistic.
Parker Molloy We’ll reach new heights of moral panic
Jennifer Brandel AI couldn’t care less. Journalists will care more.
Amethyst J. Davis The slight of the great contraction
Amy Schmitz Weiss Journalism education faces a crossroads
Sumi Aggarwal Smart newsrooms will prioritize board development
Sarabeth Berman Nonprofit local news shows that it can scale
Sam Gregory Synthetic media forces us to understand how media gets made
Doris Truong Workers demand to be paid what the job is worth
Ståle Grut Your newsroom experiences a Midjourney-gate, too
Kathy Lu We need emotionally agile newsroom leaders
Tre'vell Anderson Continued culpability in anti-trans campaigns
Peter Bale Rising costs force more digital innovation
Bill Adair The year of the fact-check (no, really!)
Joe Amditis AI throws a lifeline to local publishers
Dannagal G. Young Stop rewarding elite performances of identity threat
Kaitlin C. Miller Harassment in journalism won’t get better, but we’ll talk about it more openly
Leezel Tanglao Community partnerships drive better reporting
Ayala Panievsky It’s time for PR for journalism
Paul Cheung More news organizations will realize they are in the business of impact, not eyeballs
Danielle K. Brown and Kathleen Searles DEI efforts must consider mental health and online abuse
Pia Frey Publishers start polling their users at scale
Bill Grueskin Local news will come to rely on AI
Walter Frick Journalists wake up to the power of prediction markets
Dominic-Madori Davis Everyone finally realizes the need for diverse voices in tech reporting
Nicholas Jackson There will be launches — and we’ll keep doing the work
AX Mina Journalism in a time of permacrisis
Simon Galperin Philanthropy stops investing in corporate media
Brian Stelter Finding new ways to reach news avoiders
Andrew Donohue We’ll find out whether journalism can, indeed, save democracy
Andrew Losowsky Journalism realizes the replacement for Twitter is not a new Twitter
Anika Anand Independent news businesses lead the way on healthy work cultures
Molly de Aguiar and Mandy Van Deven Narrative change trend brings new money to journalism
Juleyka Lantigua Newsrooms recognize women of color as the canaries in the coal mine
Mariana Moura Santos A woman who speaks is a woman who changes the world
Johannes Klingebiel The innovation team, R.I.P.
Kirstin McCudden We’ll codify protection of journalism and newsgathering
Burt Herman The year AI truly arrives — and with it the reckoning
Jody Brannon We’ll embrace policy remedies
Jakob Moll Journalism startups will think beyond English
Jessica Maddox Journalists keep getting manipulated by internet culture
Janelle Salanga Journalists work from a place of harm reduction
Felicitas Carrique and Becca Aaronson News product goes from trend to standard
Martina Efeyini Talk to Gen Z. They’re the experts of Gen Z.
Nicholas Diakopoulos Journalists productively harness generative AI tools
Sarah Marshall A web channel strategy won’t be enough
Rodney Gibbs Recalibrating how we work apart
Ben Werdmuller The internet is up for grabs again
Snigdha Sur Newsrooms get nimble in a recession
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Well-being will become a core tenet of journalism
Anita Varma Journalism prioritizes the basic need for survival
Eric Holthaus As social media fragments, marginalized voices gain more power
David Cohn AI made this prediction
Christoph Mergerson The rot at the core of the news business
Jarrad Henderson Video editing will help people understand the media they consume
Ryan Kellett Airline-like loyalty programs try to tie down news readers
Michael W. Wagner The backlash against pro-democracy reporting is coming
Wilson Liévano Diaspora journalism takes the next step
Elite Truong In platform collapse, an opportunity for community
Tamar Charney Flux is the new stability
Sarah Stonbely Growth in public funding for news and information at the state and local levels
Kaitlyn Wells We’ll prioritize media literacy for children
Tim Carmody Newsletter writers need a new ethics
Errin Haines Journalists on the campaign trail mend trust with the public
Alex Sujong Laughlin Credit where it’s due
Jenna Weiss-Berman The economic downturn benefits the podcasting industry. (No, really!)
Alex Perry New paths to transparency without Twitter
Shanté Cosme The answer to “quiet quitting” is radical empathy
Basile Simon Towards supporting criminal accountability
Michael Schudson Journalism gets more and more difficult
Mar Cabra The inevitable mental health revolution
Kerri Hoffman Podcasting goes local
Rachel Glickhouse Humanizing newsrooms will be a badge of honor
Jim Friedlich Local journalism steps up to the challenge of civic coverage
Jennifer Choi and Jonathan Jackson Funders finally bet on next-generation news entrepreneurs
Mario García More newsrooms go mobile-first
J. Siguru Wahutu American journalism reckons with its colonialist tendencies
Upasna Gautam Technology that performs at the speed of news
Ryan Gantz “I’m sorry, but I’m a large language model”
Ryan Nave Citizen journalism, but make it equitable
Sarah Alvarez Dream bigger or lose out
Khushbu Shah Global reporting will suffer
Gina Chua The traditional story structure gets deconstructed
Alan Henry A reckoning with why trust in news is so low
Megan Lucero and Shirish Kulkarni The future of journalism is not you
Delano Massey The industry shakes its imposter syndrome
Joni Deutsch Podcast collaboration — not competition — breeds excellence
Sue Robinson Engagement journalism will have to confront a tougher reality
Alexandra Borchardt The year of the climate journalism strategy
Priyanjana Bengani Partisan local news networks will collaborate
Daniel Trielli Trust in news will continue to fall. Just look at Brazil.
Sue Schardt Toward a new poetics of journalism
Sam Guzik AI will start fact-checking. We may not like the results.
Laura E. Davis The year we embrace the robots — and ourselves
Larry Ryckman We’ll work together with our competitors
Joanne McNeil Facebook and the media kiss and make up
Kavya Sukumar Belling the cat: The rise of independent fact-checking at scale
Barbara Raab More journalism funders will take more risks
Masuma Ahuja Journalism starts working for and with its communities
Jonas Kaiser Rejecting the “free speech” frame
Moreno Cruz Osório Brazilian journalism turns wounds into action
Cari Nazeer and Emily Goligoski News organizations step up their support for caregivers
Susan Chira Equipping local journalism
Stefanie Murray The year U.S. media stops screwing around and becomes pro-democracy
Hillary Frey Death to the labor-intensive memo for prospective hires
Peter Sterne AI enters the newsroom
Anna Nirmala News organizations get new structures
Alexandra Svokos Working harder to reach audiences where they are
A.J. Bauer Covering the right wrong
Mary Walter-Brown and Tristan Loper Mission-driven metrics become our North Star