At the risk of sounding self-serving (you’ll see why below), isn’t it time we really looked at how we could be improving the basic unit of news — the story?
The core narrative structure of the news article — lede (whether anecdotal or newsy), nut graf, context, analysis, to-be-sures, all carefully woven into a tight package intended both to pull readers along and discourage editors from touching a single word — has been around for decades, mostly impervious to new forms of reporting, analysis, publishing, and distribution.
Despite huge changes in the technology of news, the structure of a story today doesn’t look hugely different from one in, say, 1932. Sure, there may be slideshows embedded, video added, interactive graphics and so on, but at heart, the core architecture remains the same.
Should it? Maybe it remains the best way to get important information most efficiently into readers’ minds. Or maybe it’s just us journalists doing what we like to do best.
At Semafor, we’ve taken the story form apart and recreated it in sections that delineate news from analysis from counter-argument from different perspectives. It seems to be working well, but is naturally a work in progress. Axios, with its trademarked “smart brevity’ format, has solved for the needs of overloaded and time-strapped readers. Google’s now-dead Living Stories was an exciting experiment in understanding what information readers already know and didn’t need repeated. Homicide Watch DC was likewise an interesting foray into rethinking news judgment (let’s report on all murders in the capital, not just the “newsworthy” ones), reporting structure (gather facts and let technology help assemble them) and building new audiences (family and loved ones of homicides otherwise deemed not worthy of coverage.)
And yet these are all still on the margins of the industry. (Although Semafor and Axios obviously have no desire to stay there…)
What more could we do, especially now that we have far more powerful technology at our disposal?
How about using ChatGPT‘s powerful language parsing and generation capabilities to turn the news experience into the old saw about news being what you tell someone over a drink at a bar? “And then what happened?” “Well, the FBI found all these documents at Mar-a-Lago that weren’t supposed to be there.” “I don’t understand — didn’t he say he declassified them?” “Actually…”
It would let readers explore questions they have and skip over information they might have. In other words, use technology to treat every reader as an individual, with slightly different levels of knowledge and levels of interest.
Or perhaps harness that with engines like Stanford’s Big Local News project or USC’s CrossTown data analytics platform, which pull and automatically analyze reams of local data, find interesting patterns and send them to reporters, either for follow up or as parts of broader stories. Reuters and Bloomberg already have systems like that for financial data; why not build them into more newsrooms?
In the end, we should be taking full advantage of what tools are out there, marrying the best of what machines can do with the best of what humans can do — not to replace each other, but to create a smarter, faster, “cybernetic newsroom” that can serve readers and communities better.
After all, we’ve changed dramatically as a news consuming public over the decades; think about how Twitter threads, TikTok videos, and interactive graphics have all burrowed their way into our news habits. Why shouldn’t our most basic story form change as well?
Gina Chua is executive editor of Semafor.
At the risk of sounding self-serving (you’ll see why below), isn’t it time we really looked at how we could be improving the basic unit of news — the story?
The core narrative structure of the news article — lede (whether anecdotal or newsy), nut graf, context, analysis, to-be-sures, all carefully woven into a tight package intended both to pull readers along and discourage editors from touching a single word — has been around for decades, mostly impervious to new forms of reporting, analysis, publishing, and distribution.
Despite huge changes in the technology of news, the structure of a story today doesn’t look hugely different from one in, say, 1932. Sure, there may be slideshows embedded, video added, interactive graphics and so on, but at heart, the core architecture remains the same.
Should it? Maybe it remains the best way to get important information most efficiently into readers’ minds. Or maybe it’s just us journalists doing what we like to do best.
At Semafor, we’ve taken the story form apart and recreated it in sections that delineate news from analysis from counter-argument from different perspectives. It seems to be working well, but is naturally a work in progress. Axios, with its trademarked “smart brevity’ format, has solved for the needs of overloaded and time-strapped readers. Google’s now-dead Living Stories was an exciting experiment in understanding what information readers already know and didn’t need repeated. Homicide Watch DC was likewise an interesting foray into rethinking news judgment (let’s report on all murders in the capital, not just the “newsworthy” ones), reporting structure (gather facts and let technology help assemble them) and building new audiences (family and loved ones of homicides otherwise deemed not worthy of coverage.)
And yet these are all still on the margins of the industry. (Although Semafor and Axios obviously have no desire to stay there…)
What more could we do, especially now that we have far more powerful technology at our disposal?
How about using ChatGPT‘s powerful language parsing and generation capabilities to turn the news experience into the old saw about news being what you tell someone over a drink at a bar? “And then what happened?” “Well, the FBI found all these documents at Mar-a-Lago that weren’t supposed to be there.” “I don’t understand — didn’t he say he declassified them?” “Actually…”
It would let readers explore questions they have and skip over information they might have. In other words, use technology to treat every reader as an individual, with slightly different levels of knowledge and levels of interest.
Or perhaps harness that with engines like Stanford’s Big Local News project or USC’s CrossTown data analytics platform, which pull and automatically analyze reams of local data, find interesting patterns and send them to reporters, either for follow up or as parts of broader stories. Reuters and Bloomberg already have systems like that for financial data; why not build them into more newsrooms?
In the end, we should be taking full advantage of what tools are out there, marrying the best of what machines can do with the best of what humans can do — not to replace each other, but to create a smarter, faster, “cybernetic newsroom” that can serve readers and communities better.
After all, we’ve changed dramatically as a news consuming public over the decades; think about how Twitter threads, TikTok videos, and interactive graphics have all burrowed their way into our news habits. Why shouldn’t our most basic story form change as well?
Gina Chua is executive editor of Semafor.
Mariana Moura Santos A woman who speaks is a woman who changes the world
Stefanie Murray The year U.S. media stops screwing around and becomes pro-democracy
Jacob L. Nelson Despite it all, people will still want to be journalists
J. Siguru Wahutu American journalism reckons with its colonialist tendencies
Alan Henry A reckoning with why trust in news is so low
Kaitlyn Wells We’ll prioritize media literacy for children
Tim Carmody Newsletter writers need a new ethics
Rodney Gibbs Recalibrating how we work apart
Jaden Amos TikTok personality journalists continue to rise
Julia Angwin Democracies will get serious about saving journalism
Juleyka Lantigua Newsrooms recognize women of color as the canaries in the coal mine
Ayala Panievsky It’s time for PR for journalism
Alex Sujong Laughlin Credit where it’s due
Megan Lucero and Shirish Kulkarni The future of journalism is not you
Kathy Lu We need emotionally agile newsroom leaders
Susan Chira Equipping local journalism
Masuma Ahuja Journalism starts working for and with its communities
Cari Nazeer and Emily Goligoski News organizations step up their support for caregivers
Lisa Heyamoto The independent news industry gets a roadmap to sustainability
Peter Sterne AI enters the newsroom
Nicholas Diakopoulos Journalists productively harness generative AI tools
Richard Tofel The press might get better at vetting presidential candidates
David Cohn AI made this prediction
Jim Friedlich Local journalism steps up to the challenge of civic coverage
Ben Werdmuller The internet is up for grabs again
Emily Nonko Incarcerated reporters get more bylines
Zizi Papacharissi Platforms are over
Sumi Aggarwal Smart newsrooms will prioritize board development
Sarah Alvarez Dream bigger or lose out
Doris Truong Workers demand to be paid what the job is worth
Mario García More newsrooms go mobile-first
Kavya Sukumar Belling the cat: The rise of independent fact-checking at scale
Anika Anand Independent news businesses lead the way on healthy work cultures
Mauricio Cabrera It’s no longer about audiences, it’s about communities
Alexandra Svokos Working harder to reach audiences where they are
Gina Chua The traditional story structure gets deconstructed
Paul Cheung More news organizations will realize they are in the business of impact, not eyeballs
Don Day The news about the news is bad. I’m optimistic.
Daniel Trielli Trust in news will continue to fall. Just look at Brazil.
Jennifer Brandel AI couldn’t care less. Journalists will care more.
Joanne McNeil Facebook and the media kiss and make up
Nicholas Jackson There will be launches — and we’ll keep doing the work
Amy Schmitz Weiss Journalism education faces a crossroads
Kerri Hoffman Podcasting goes local
Raney Aronson-Rath Journalists will band together to fight intimidation
Ryan Nave Citizen journalism, but make it equitable
Leezel Tanglao Community partnerships drive better reporting
Janet Haven ChatGPT and the future of trust
Kaitlin C. Miller Harassment in journalism won’t get better, but we’ll talk about it more openly
Dominic-Madori Davis Everyone finally realizes the need for diverse voices in tech reporting
Gabe Schneider Well-funded journalism leaders stop making disparate pay
Karina Montoya More reporters on the antitrust beat
Walter Frick Journalists wake up to the power of prediction markets
Jody Brannon We’ll embrace policy remedies
Danielle K. Brown and Kathleen Searles DEI efforts must consider mental health and online abuse
Bill Adair The year of the fact-check (no, really!)
James Salanga Journalists work from a place of harm reduction
Jarrad Henderson Video editing will help people understand the media they consume
Andrew Donohue We’ll find out whether journalism can, indeed, save democracy
Ariel Zirulnick Journalism doubles down on user needs
Josh Schwartz The AI spammers are coming
Christoph Mergerson The rot at the core of the news business
Snigdha Sur Newsrooms get nimble in a recession
Julia Beizer News fatigue shows us a clear path forward
Shanté Cosme The answer to “quiet quitting” is radical empathy
Elite Truong In platform collapse, an opportunity for community
Ryan Kellett Airline-like loyalty programs try to tie down news readers
Brian Moritz Rebuilding the news bundle
Francesco Zaffarano There is no end of “social media”
Wilson Liévano Diaspora journalism takes the next step
Laxmi Parthasarathy Unlocking the silent demand for international journalism
Johannes Klingebiel The innovation team, R.I.P.
Larry Ryckman We’ll work together with our competitors
Eric Ulken Generative AI brings wrongness at scale
Errin Haines Journalists on the campaign trail mend trust with the public
Nikki Usher This is the year of the RSS reader. (Really!)
John Davidow A year of intergenerational learning
Esther Kezia Thorpe Subscription pressures force product innovation
Priyanjana Bengani Partisan local news networks will collaborate
Gordon Crovitz The year advertisers stop funding misinformation
Felicitas Carrique and Becca Aaronson News product goes from trend to standard
Al Lucca Digital news design gets interesting again
Parker Molloy We’ll reach new heights of moral panic
Ryan Gantz “I’m sorry, but I’m a large language model”
Taylor Lorenz The “creator economy” will be astroturfed
Cindy Royal Yes, journalists should learn to code, but…
Jessica Maddox Journalists keep getting manipulated by internet culture
Ståle Grut Your newsroom experiences a Midjourney-gate, too
Burt Herman The year AI truly arrives — and with it the reckoning
Jonas Kaiser Rejecting the “free speech” frame
Simon Galperin Philanthropy stops investing in corporate media
Dannagal G. Young Stop rewarding elite performances of identity threat
Cassandra Etienne Local news fellowships will help fight newsroom inequities
Eric Nuzum A focus on people instead of power
Michael W. Wagner The backlash against pro-democracy reporting is coming
Sarah Marshall A web channel strategy won’t be enough
Michael Schudson Journalism gets more and more difficult
Victor Pickard The year journalism and capitalism finally divorce
Amethyst J. Davis The slight of the great contraction
Nicholas Thompson The year AI actually changes the media business
Anita Varma Journalism prioritizes the basic need for survival
Joe Amditis AI throws a lifeline to local publishers
A.J. Bauer Covering the right wrong
Rachel Glickhouse Humanizing newsrooms will be a badge of honor
Laura E. Davis The year we embrace the robots — and ourselves
Elizabeth Bramson-Boudreau More of the same
Christina Shih Shared values move from nice-to-haves to essentials
Molly de Aguiar and Mandy Van Deven Narrative change trend brings new money to journalism
Dana Lacey Tech will screw publishers over
Matt Rasnic More newsroom workers turn to organized labor
AX Mina Journalism in a time of permacrisis
Martina Efeyini Talk to Gen Z. They’re the experts of Gen Z.
Surya Mattu Data journalists learn from photojournalists
Kirstin McCudden We’ll codify protection of journalism and newsgathering
Sarah Stonbely Growth in public funding for news and information at the state and local levels
Mary Walter-Brown and Tristan Loper Mission-driven metrics become our North Star
David Skok Renewed interest in human-powered reporting
Pia Frey Publishers start polling their users at scale
Sam Gregory Synthetic media forces us to understand how media gets made
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Well-being will become a core tenet of journalism
Jakob Moll Journalism startups will think beyond English
Hillary Frey Death to the labor-intensive memo for prospective hires
Delano Massey The industry shakes its imposter syndrome
Tre'vell Anderson Continued culpability in anti-trans campaigns
Mar Cabra The inevitable mental health revolution
Khushbu Shah Global reporting will suffer
Andrew Losowsky Journalism realizes the replacement for Twitter is not a new Twitter
Joshua P. Darr Local to live, wire to wither
Alex Perry New paths to transparency without Twitter
Sue Cross Thinking and acting collectively to save the news
Anthony Nadler Confronting media gerrymandering
Jennifer Choi and Jonathan Jackson Funders finally bet on next-generation news entrepreneurs
Eric Thurm Journalists think of themselves as workers
Joni Deutsch Podcast collaboration — not competition — breeds excellence
Upasna Gautam Technology that performs at the speed of news
Barbara Raab More journalism funders will take more risks
Sam Guzik AI will start fact-checking. We may not like the results.
Peter Bale Rising costs force more digital innovation
Anna Nirmala News organizations get new structures
Sarabeth Berman Nonprofit local news shows that it can scale
Jessica Clark Open discourse retrenches
Jesse Holcomb Buffeted, whipped, bullied, pulled
Jim VandeHei There is no “peak newsletter”
Sue Schardt Toward a new poetics of journalism
Sue Robinson Engagement journalism will have to confront a tougher reality
S. Mitra Kalita “Everything sucks. Good luck to you.”
Alexandra Borchardt The year of the climate journalism strategy
Bill Grueskin Local news will come to rely on AI
Emma Carew Grovum The year to resist forgetting about diversity
Jenna Weiss-Berman The economic downturn benefits the podcasting industry. (No, really!)
Brian Stelter Finding new ways to reach news avoiders
Basile Simon Towards supporting criminal accountability
Tamar Charney Flux is the new stability
Cory Bergman The AI content flood
Eric Holthaus As social media fragments, marginalized voices gain more power
Moreno Cruz Osório Brazilian journalism turns wounds into action
Mael Vallejo More threats to press freedom across the Americas