"For years, audience research such as Next Gen News has shown that news consumers seek affinity and trust from individuals, not institutions. Audience members want to follow faces, not mastheads. News publishers who think that offering salary, benefits, and a byline is incentive enough for a journalist to bring their own audience to the publisher are fooling themselves. The creators news consumers follow on YouTube, TikTok, Substack, and Ghost offer personality, affinity, and transparency."
"In 2026, the news publishers that lead and thrive will be those that grasp what creators already know: Individuals command the attention that institutions need to survive. The trope of the irascible news editor dictatorially assigning stories to helpless reporters is dead. Newsrooms should not seek to command and control talented reporters and news presenters; they should be recruiting them. Successful news publishers will be those who build compelling pitches and value propositions that recruit and retain journalists who command audience attention."
News consumers prefer affinity, trust, and personality from individual creators rather than institutions. Creators on YouTube, TikTok, Substack, and Ghost provide the personality, affinity, and transparency audiences seek. Publishers must shift from commanding reporters to recruiting them with compelling pitches and value propositions. Successful publishers will offer editing, research, legal protection, and marketing as incentives to support creators. News organizations will reorganize into loose confederations of creators and supporting services, with editors acting like TV producers and audience teams operating like talent managers. The relationship may be less stable but offers mutual benefits.
Read at Nieman Lab
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