Fake news and the future of journalism
“Every public has its own universe of discourse and…humanly speaking, a fact is only a fact in some universe of discourse.” Writing those words three quarters of a century before the Oxford...
View ArticlePodcasts dive into breaking news analysis
The day after Trump’s Access Hollywood video leaked, I saw something completely unprecedented happen in my podcast feed. Despite The Washington Post’s story breaking on a Friday afternoon, by the time...
View ArticleThe year of the drone, really
In 2017, drone reporting will come into its own. The challenge for news organizations will be to make it a useful reporting tool, not just another gimmick. You’d think drone reporting would have been a...
View ArticleBetter data about your users
The problem is not having more data. The problem is having the right, actionable data and the context of its provenance. But publishers see so much of their relationships mediated by a few walled...
View ArticleWomen are going to get loud
Shhh. What’s that sound? Listen very carefully. Can you hear it? If you’re listening for any mention of women or gender or sexism or misogyny in the mainstream media post-election narrative, don’t...
View ArticleRise of the rebel journalist
It’s my belief the outcome of the 2016 election will be the genesis of a new form of journalist and journalism. The ill-equipped manner in which the media interacted with the populace and unduly...
View ArticleA new test for French media
It’s not breaking news that France will have a new president in 2017, but the election will have a major impact on the whole French media landscape. Here’s why. The context of the French presidential...
View ArticleBaking transparency into our routines
How do you serve a public that doesn’t trust you anymore? Journalists across the country are having a crisis of conscience in the aftermath of an election few of us saw coming, amid the endemic of fake...
View ArticlePlatforms grow up or grow more toxic
Journalism as opposition. This sounds like a partisan stance, but it really isn’t. There are a few macro forces pushing journalism into attack mode: President-elect Donald Trump’s frightening stance...
View ArticleThe year journalism teaches again
It may be that the end of 2016 and perhaps 2017 has been about the fact. It’s been about how fact-checking has again arisen from the ashes as the political state in the United States and across the...
View ArticleThe year we talk about our awful metrics
Given the twists and turns journalism faced in 2016, it would be easy enough to conjure up some pessimistic — or even dystopian — views of what lies ahead for the industry. But I like to think of...
View ArticleTruthiness in private spaces
In this year’s election, one of the inescapable media trends was the dissemination — in large numbers, across borders, from an ever-growing set of “news organizations” — of news stories light on truth....
View ArticlePublic trust for private realities
It’s impossible to discuss what 2017 will bring for media without considering how this election has rocked assumptions about journalism’s relationship with both the public and those in power. On...
View ArticleFailing diversity is failing journalism
If your newsroom isn’t diverse, you’re failing at journalism. 2017 should be the year that publications should finally embrace this notion. A newsroom that represents the country we cover is what a...
View Article2017 is for the attention innovators
In the United States, this was the year electoral politics embraced memes in full force. From the “This is fine” dog to #NastyWoman tweets to Make America Great Again selfies, social media users on all...
View ArticleVirtual reality on the open web
In 2015 and 2016, we saw news organizations interested in new impactful ways of telling stories take on the virtual reality challenge to create good content. Anyone who has experienced virtual reality...
View ArticleUn-faking the news
Much has been said and written about fake news. It all boils down to this: It’s the arch nemesis of journalism. The moment you get involved, you get infected. You draw attention to this nonsense,...
View ArticleComments start pulling their weight
2017 will be the year news comments finally start pulling their weight. The recent wave of news sites nixing comments illustrates the complicated relationship most organizations have with comment...
View ArticleObjectivity, fairness, balance, and love
It is an extraordinary time and, as history demonstrates, times of unpredictability and flux are when tried and true forms for human expression are broken and expanded. Think Brahms, who ribboned his...
View ArticleThanks, #fakenews
The intrusion of fake news into the media ecosystem has been met with fear and outrage. Yet fake news might trigger a good thing, too: A reminder of the extraordinary value of truth and perhaps a...
View ArticleFeeling blue in a red state
Remember Kim Davis, the world’s most famous county clerk? In 2015, she was in the national and international news for months. Although state law required it, she refused to sign the marriage license of...
View ArticleThe year of transparency in Brazilian journalism
If 2016 was the post-truth year, 2017 will be the year of transparency for Brazilian journalism. More than a prediction, it’s a necessity for professionals and publications that want to reaffirm a...
View ArticleYour predictions are our present
Dear American colleagues: Look abroad. Your predictions for 2017 are probably already happening somewhere else. The time when everything in journalism and media happened in the States and was then...
View ArticleVerification takes center stage
Skills in social media verification will become a priority for newsroom hires in 2017. Two years ago, for a research project I was working on, I talked to journalists about the ways user-generated...
View ArticleGetting comfortable asking for money
More and more news organizations will realize that, to survive, they need to ask their audiences for money. Whether it’s a membership program with exclusive benefits or crowdfunding campaigns for...
View ArticleMaking it easy
From the moment they wake up to the moment they go to sleep, most people check their phones incessantly, whether they’re in work meetings, a supermarket, a bus, a bar, or the bathroom. And while...
View ArticleJournalism is community-as-a-service
News organizations are reeling. The 2016 election upended a lot of our ideas about our work — most disturbingly that reported, factual journalism is valued and trusted less than a cheap, clumsy...
View ArticleNot just covering communities, reaching them
Do you know how to get into the feed of a reader who distrusts, or hates, your news organization? Many of us in the digital trenches of news have been engaged in a street fight for human attention for...
View ArticleA rebirth of populist journalism
A prediction is always a commentary on the current situation in disguise, but this year, our disguise won’t fool anyone. So bear with us as we pretend to say something about the future that is pretty...
View ArticleThe year of the user
Five years of chasing clicks has made browsing the news one of the worst user experiences on the Internet. Depending on the size of the homepage takeover, it can be hard to tell if you’re looking at a...
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