So yeah, that’s a provocative headline. It feels accusatory, exclusionary, even hurtful. Welcome to the news-reading experience of vast swaths of the population.
We have to face the truth. Most mainstream news outlets create harm in our communities. They misrepresent, exploit experiences, scapegoat those experiencing marginalization and even drive further harm through racist, transphobic, classist, ableist, patriarchal. and capitalist reporting. This is true of the U.K. where we’ve been working together — and on different levels experiencing harm first-hand — but it is also true of legacy media in the U.S. and around the world.
“I don’t see many people like me on the news, but I’m quite happy about that. I don’t trust the news trying to tell our stories.” This is what a Muslim woman told Bureau Local (U.K.) when trying to explain her fear of the media.
Time’s up on news outlets that operate this way for profit, political influence, and the protection of the status quo. The good news (no pun intended) is that projects like Media 2070 (U.S.), BBC and Beyond (U.K.), and organizations like The Objective (U.S.) are filling the accountability vacuum and challenging the very industry that holds up “accountability” and “holding truth to power” as its most celebrated anthems.
Tomorrow’s news industry will change as a result of this accountability. It will challenge the often heard excuse that these communities are “hard to reach” and acknowledge they have been badly served and are reached and served best when ownership and representation is rooted in communities. Just look at the growing number of community newsrooms and initiatives that put equity and community power at the heart of their operations. In the U.K., see Greater Govanhill, The Ferret, The Bristol Cable, Black Ballad, and Gal Dem. In the U.S. see City Bureau, Outlier Media, Scalawag, Resolve Philly, Tiny News Collective and the Future of Local News Coalition’s prediction this year to dream bigger or lose out.
Tomorrow’s journalism will act on multiple fronts. It will challenge the power this industry has hoarded and weaponized for too long. It will share and shift that power (Check out this, this, and this). Crucially, it will support the building of new power in communities. Integral to this is for those of us inside to stop centering ourselves and trying to own the solutions, stop looking only within our small, privileged industry and to step aside, make space, and get behind others.
This past year, via The People’s Newsroom, we ran a pilot to support those who’ve been harmed by the media to reclaim it for their benefit. In doing so, we met tomorrow’s leaders.
We met Shakria Morka, who said, “As a Black, disabled woman, the experiences of neurotypical white men who have dominated traditional journalism are directly oppositional to mine.” She called for transformational inclusion and said, “Inclusion means truly valuing the contributions, perspectives and lived experience of marginalized people and allowing us to take up paid roles.” She said the work is not inclusive “if the nature of journalism itself does not change and if we fail to rip apart harmful stereotypes and consult communities.”
We met Shazia Ali, who said that opening a newspaper filled her with trepidation as she feared what Islamaphobic slur would then show up in physical hate. Yet when she discovered Amaliah, a Muslim women’s publication in the U.K., she said, “When I go on to Amaliah’s site, “I can breathe easier. That is what news belonging feels like.” She’s now a BBC journalism apprentice, and says she’s “doing it for all the communities that the news has failed.”
Shazia’s mantra is where the future lies. Tomorrow’s journalism belongs to those who’ve been excluded, harmed, and failed by the media. It belongs to the communities that most need its power. In their hands it can be reimagined and reclaimed as a true community service that enacts positive change.
We all know there is a crisis in journalism. There is a breakdown in the business model and a breakdown in trust, and those two things are not unrelated. That is down to who holds the power and who tells the stories. This is because, for the group of people running the industry, the system works just fine as it is. Yet it’s worth remembering that they actually represent a tiny proportion of the population. It’s impossible for them to reflect the true richness of society, but if we let them, they will preside over the death of journalism.
So, we’re not going to let them. We’re going to shift this power and support the next generation of journalists, editors, and owners to reclaim journalism for us all.
Megan Lucero is the founder of the Bureau Local and People’s Newsroom. Shirish Kulkarni is a journalist, researcher and community organizer.
So yeah, that’s a provocative headline. It feels accusatory, exclusionary, even hurtful. Welcome to the news-reading experience of vast swaths of the population.
We have to face the truth. Most mainstream news outlets create harm in our communities. They misrepresent, exploit experiences, scapegoat those experiencing marginalization and even drive further harm through racist, transphobic, classist, ableist, patriarchal. and capitalist reporting. This is true of the U.K. where we’ve been working together — and on different levels experiencing harm first-hand — but it is also true of legacy media in the U.S. and around the world.
“I don’t see many people like me on the news, but I’m quite happy about that. I don’t trust the news trying to tell our stories.” This is what a Muslim woman told Bureau Local (U.K.) when trying to explain her fear of the media.
Time’s up on news outlets that operate this way for profit, political influence, and the protection of the status quo. The good news (no pun intended) is that projects like Media 2070 (U.S.), BBC and Beyond (U.K.), and organizations like The Objective (U.S.) are filling the accountability vacuum and challenging the very industry that holds up “accountability” and “holding truth to power” as its most celebrated anthems.
Tomorrow’s news industry will change as a result of this accountability. It will challenge the often heard excuse that these communities are “hard to reach” and acknowledge they have been badly served and are reached and served best when ownership and representation is rooted in communities. Just look at the growing number of community newsrooms and initiatives that put equity and community power at the heart of their operations. In the U.K., see Greater Govanhill, The Ferret, The Bristol Cable, Black Ballad, and Gal Dem. In the U.S. see City Bureau, Outlier Media, Scalawag, Resolve Philly, Tiny News Collective and the Future of Local News Coalition’s prediction this year to dream bigger or lose out.
Tomorrow’s journalism will act on multiple fronts. It will challenge the power this industry has hoarded and weaponized for too long. It will share and shift that power (Check out this, this, and this). Crucially, it will support the building of new power in communities. Integral to this is for those of us inside to stop centering ourselves and trying to own the solutions, stop looking only within our small, privileged industry and to step aside, make space, and get behind others.
This past year, via The People’s Newsroom, we ran a pilot to support those who’ve been harmed by the media to reclaim it for their benefit. In doing so, we met tomorrow’s leaders.
We met Shakria Morka, who said, “As a Black, disabled woman, the experiences of neurotypical white men who have dominated traditional journalism are directly oppositional to mine.” She called for transformational inclusion and said, “Inclusion means truly valuing the contributions, perspectives and lived experience of marginalized people and allowing us to take up paid roles.” She said the work is not inclusive “if the nature of journalism itself does not change and if we fail to rip apart harmful stereotypes and consult communities.”
We met Shazia Ali, who said that opening a newspaper filled her with trepidation as she feared what Islamaphobic slur would then show up in physical hate. Yet when she discovered Amaliah, a Muslim women’s publication in the U.K., she said, “When I go on to Amaliah’s site, “I can breathe easier. That is what news belonging feels like.” She’s now a BBC journalism apprentice, and says she’s “doing it for all the communities that the news has failed.”
Shazia’s mantra is where the future lies. Tomorrow’s journalism belongs to those who’ve been excluded, harmed, and failed by the media. It belongs to the communities that most need its power. In their hands it can be reimagined and reclaimed as a true community service that enacts positive change.
We all know there is a crisis in journalism. There is a breakdown in the business model and a breakdown in trust, and those two things are not unrelated. That is down to who holds the power and who tells the stories. This is because, for the group of people running the industry, the system works just fine as it is. Yet it’s worth remembering that they actually represent a tiny proportion of the population. It’s impossible for them to reflect the true richness of society, but if we let them, they will preside over the death of journalism.
So, we’re not going to let them. We’re going to shift this power and support the next generation of journalists, editors, and owners to reclaim journalism for us all.
Megan Lucero is the founder of the Bureau Local and People’s Newsroom. Shirish Kulkarni is a journalist, researcher and community organizer.
Daniel Trielli Trust in news will continue to fall. Just look at Brazil.
Sarah Stonbely Growth in public funding for news and information at the state and local levels
Masuma Ahuja Journalism starts working for and with its communities
Kaitlin C. Miller Harassment in journalism won’t get better, but we’ll talk about it more openly
Zizi Papacharissi Platforms are over
Barbara Raab More journalism funders will take more risks
Sarah Marshall A web channel strategy won’t be enough
Jenna Weiss-Berman The economic downturn benefits the podcasting industry. (No, really!)
Sue Robinson Engagement journalism will have to confront a tougher reality
Molly de Aguiar and Mandy Van Deven Narrative change trend brings new money to journalism
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Well-being will become a core tenet of journalism
Lisa Heyamoto The independent news industry gets a roadmap to sustainability
Hillary Frey Death to the labor-intensive memo for prospective hires
Amy Schmitz Weiss Journalism education faces a crossroads
Pia Frey Publishers start polling their users at scale
Janelle Salanga Journalists work from a place of harm reduction
Christina Shih Shared values move from nice-to-haves to essentials
Rodney Gibbs Recalibrating how we work apart
Brian Stelter Finding new ways to reach news avoiders
Eric Holthaus As social media fragments, marginalized voices gain more power
Tre'vell Anderson Continued culpability in anti-trans campaigns
Anna Nirmala News organizations get new structures
Mar Cabra The inevitable mental health revolution
Joshua P. Darr Local to live, wire to wither
Ariel Zirulnick Journalism doubles down on user needs
Shanté Cosme The answer to “quiet quitting” is radical empathy
Janet Haven ChatGPT and the future of trust
S. Mitra Kalita “Everything sucks. Good luck to you.”
Emma Carew Grovum The year to resist forgetting about diversity
Alex Perry New paths to transparency without Twitter
Eric Thurm Journalists think of themselves as workers
Michael W. Wagner The backlash against pro-democracy reporting is coming
Julia Angwin Democracies will get serious about saving journalism
Sumi Aggarwal Smart newsrooms will prioritize board development
Danielle K. Brown and Kathleen Searles DEI efforts must consider mental health and online abuse
Megan Lucero and Shirish Kulkarni The future of journalism is not you
Leezel Tanglao Community partnerships drive better reporting
Francesco Zaffarano There is no end of “social media”
Sarabeth Berman Nonprofit local news shows that it can scale
Mary Walter-Brown and Tristan Loper Mission-driven metrics become our North Star
Laura E. Davis The year we embrace the robots — and ourselves
Cassandra Etienne Local news fellowships will help fight newsroom inequities
Peter Bale Rising costs force more digital innovation
Khushbu Shah Global reporting will suffer
Peter Sterne AI enters the newsroom
Josh Schwartz The AI spammers are coming
Joni Deutsch Podcast collaboration — not competition — breeds excellence
Jarrad Henderson Video editing will help people understand the media they consume
Errin Haines Journalists on the campaign trail mend trust with the public
Susan Chira Equipping local journalism
Jim Friedlich Local journalism steps up to the challenge of civic coverage
An Xiao Mina Journalism in a time of permacrisis
Jennifer Choi and Jonathan Jackson Funders finally bet on next-generation news entrepreneurs
David Cohn AI made this prediction
Cindy Royal Yes, journalists should learn to code, but…
Jesse Holcomb Buffeted, whipped, bullied, pulled
Jennifer Brandel AI couldn’t care less. Journalists will care more.
Upasna Gautam Technology that performs at the speed of news
Delano Massey The industry shakes its imposter syndrome
Sam Guzik AI will start fact-checking. We may not like the results.
Cory Bergman The AI content flood
Rachel Glickhouse Humanizing newsrooms will be a badge of honor
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.
Doris Truong Workers demand to be paid what the job is worth
Anita Varma Journalism prioritizes the basic need for survival
Jakob Moll Journalism startups will think beyond English
Matt Rasnic More newsroom workers turn to organized labor
Cari Nazeer and Emily Goligoski News organizations step up their support for caregivers
Ryan Kellett Airline-like loyalty programs try to tie down news readers
Snigdha Sur Newsrooms get nimble in a recession
Jessica Clark Open discourse retrenches
Jonas Kaiser Rejecting the “free speech” frame
Kirstin McCudden We’ll codify protection of journalism and newsgathering
A.J. Bauer Covering the right wrong
Simon Galperin Philanthropy stops investing in corporate media
Martina Efeyini Talk to Gen Z. They’re the experts of Gen Z.
Tim Carmody Newsletter writers need a new ethics
Anika Anand Independent news businesses lead the way on healthy work cultures
Wilson Liévano Diaspora journalism takes the next step
Mariana Moura Santos A woman who speaks is a woman who changes the world
Mael Vallejo More threats to press freedom across the Americas
Ryan Gantz “I’m sorry, but I’m a large language model”
Ryan Nave Citizen journalism, but make it equitable
Kaitlyn Wells We’ll prioritize media literacy for children
Amethyst J. Davis The slight of the great contraction
Emily Nonko Incarcerated reporters get more bylines
Al Lucca Digital news design gets interesting again
Nicholas Jackson There will be launches — and we’ll keep doing the work
Laxmi Parthasarathy Unlocking the silent demand for international journalism
Alexandra Borchardt The year of the climate journalism strategy
Ben Werdmuller The internet is up for grabs again
Jim VandeHei There is no “peak newsletter”
Raney Aronson-Rath Journalists will band together to fight intimidation
Mauricio Cabrera It’s no longer about audiences, it’s about communities
J. Siguru Wahutu American journalism reckons with its colonialist tendencies
Ayala Panievsky It’s time for PR for journalism
Sue Cross Thinking and acting collectively to save the news
Christoph Mergerson The rot at the core of the news business
Eric Ulken Generative AI brings wrongness at scale
Joanne McNeil Facebook and the media kiss and make up
Andrew Donohue We’ll find out whether journalism can, indeed, save democracy
Anthony Nadler Confronting media gerrymandering
Alexandra Svokos Working harder to reach audiences where they are
Brian Moritz Rebuilding the news bundle
Nicholas Thompson The year AI actually changes the media business
Elite Truong In platform collapse, an opportunity for community
Sarah Alvarez Dream bigger or lose out
Dominic-Madori Davis Everyone finally realizes the need for diverse voices in tech reporting
Bill Adair The year of the fact-check (no, really!)
Nikki Usher This is the year of the RSS reader. (Really!)
Stefanie Murray The year U.S. media stops screwing around and becomes pro-democracy
Felicitas Carrique and Becca Aaronson News product goes from trend to standard
Michael Schudson Journalism gets more and more difficult
David Skok Renewed interest in human-powered reporting
Juleyka Lantigua Newsrooms recognize women of color as the canaries in the coal mine
Gina Chua The traditional story structure gets deconstructed
Larry Ryckman We’ll work together with our competitors
Nicholas Diakopoulos Journalists productively harness generative AI tools
Sue Schardt Toward a new poetics of journalism
Karina Montoya More reporters on the antitrust beat
Bill Grueskin Local news will come to rely on AI
Parker Molloy We’ll reach new heights of moral panic
Jacob L. Nelson Despite it all, people will still want to be journalists
Richard Tofel The press might get better at vetting presidential candidates
Joe Amditis AI throws a lifeline to local publishers
Dannagal G. Young Stop rewarding elite performances of identity threat
Gabe Schneider Well-funded journalism leaders stop making disparate pay
Dana Lacey Tech will screw publishers over
Alan Henry A reckoning with why trust in news is so low
Basile Simon Towards supporting criminal accountability
Ståle Grut Your newsroom experiences a Midjourney-gate, too
Taylor Lorenz The “creator economy” will be astroturfed
Sam Gregory Synthetic media forces us to understand how media gets made
Kerri Hoffman Podcasting goes local
Alex Sujong Laughlin Credit where it’s due
Kathy Lu We need emotionally agile newsroom leaders
Gordon Crovitz The year advertisers stop funding misinformation
Johannes Klingebiel The innovation team, R.I.P.
Elizabeth Bramson-Boudreau More of the same
Jessica Maddox Journalists keep getting manipulated by internet culture
Burt Herman The year AI truly arrives — and with it the reckoning
Surya Mattu Data journalists learn from photojournalists
Eric Nuzum A focus on people instead of power
Priyanjana Bengani Partisan local news networks will collaborate
Mario García More newsrooms go mobile-first
Tamar Charney Flux is the new stability
Moreno Cruz Osório Brazilian journalism turns wounds into action
Andrew Losowsky Journalism realizes the replacement for Twitter is not a new Twitter
Jaden Amos TikTok personality journalists continue to rise
Kavya Sukumar Belling the cat: The rise of independent fact-checking at scale
Jody Brannon We’ll embrace policy remedies
Walter Frick Journalists wake up to the power of prediction markets
John Davidow A year of intergenerational learning
Julia Beizer News fatigue shows us a clear path forward
Esther Kezia Thorpe Subscription pressures force product innovation
Victor Pickard The year journalism and capitalism finally divorce