News creators help publishers get back in the ring

Very early lessons in boxing include learning a basic stance, step-drag footwork, proper punching form, and blocking for defense. It also involves quickly reading what sorts of punches are being thrown at you.

Let’s count the punches that journalism took this year.

The first is that while generative AI innovation moved at a blinding pace in newsrooms this year, that wasn’t the case for all news organizations and certainly not with the same speed. Larger organizations with deep resources have moved into a “year 4” iteration where AI-backed processes are now quietly working across all parts of the journalism lifecycle: news-gathering, production, and reporting. All this is taking place while smaller, poorer publishers have had much less room to innovate or experiment and are still grappling with how to use AI and where.

The second knock — a longstanding one in some parts of the world, but only now rearing its head in other parts — is from governments that are openly critical and actively attacking the free press and its associates. The attack is shocking in its intensity but familiar in its playbook: multi-million-dollar lawsuits against news outlets, personal and damaging attacks on targeted journalists both online and offline, and, critically, squeezing access to funds that hitherto supported independent journalism. It is hard to make predictions here, but it is worth pointing to countries around the world where journalists have been working with harsh and vindictive political leaders for many years now. There is a not-small chance that this form of pressure and intimidation gets worse, rather than better.

But this two-punch combination has a third potential left hook: the rise of a vast, wide-spanning, often partisan news creator landscape. With a social media–only presence, a discernible impact on public debate, and an identity separate from traditional media, these news creators have been able to draw in audiences that mainstream media have so far struggled with — particularly in regions where there is strong social media dependence.

All three have a common intersection — the public, or the audience. This year, if news organizations seek to demonstrate the value they provide, improve their financial health and build ground support for themselves in the face of political pressure, they will have to focus more keenly on one key section of the audience: young people.

As digital natives, young people frequently — and often exclusively — turn to social media to tap into the news. Our own research at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism shows that dependence on social media and video networks for news is highest with younger demographics; 44% of 18- to 24-year-olds and 38% of 25- to 34-year-olds say social media is their main source of news. This is also the demographic that’s drawn to news creators for the authenticity and parasocial connection they see in that medium. Think Ben Shapiro and David Pakman in the U.S., but also think Dhruv Rathee in India, Dylan Page in the U.K., Adela Micha in Mexico, Ria Ricis in Indonesia, and The News Guy in Kenya.

The news creator phenomenon may not be as visible in all parts of the world. Most creators don’t achieve the same level of reach that a handful of the very successful among them have, nor does their particular brand of content make for a good fit for news organizations with clear editorial guidelines and practices.

But for newsrooms looking to build inroads with a younger audience base, the news creator space presents an opportunity that could be tapped into: building in-house talent and making journalists “on-air” creators like The New York Times, exploring partnerships and collaborations where there is a fit like the Finnish public broadcaster Yle, or hiring news creators like Le Monde and Mail Online. Creators bring their own unique style and subject expertise to news stories, broadening the range of topics covered by the core newsroom.

Young audiences have distinct news habits and news interest. They’re seeking connection, sense-making, and value, all in a format they enjoy and on platforms they prefer. That’s the starting bell for this year’s round in the ring. Traditional journalism is no strawweight fighter. But it may or may not be at the center of that experience.