Publishers prepare to be “squeezed” by AI and creators in 2026

“Existential challenges abound.” So reads the executive summary of a new report from Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism about journalism and technology trends in 2026.

The report, published Monday, draws on interviews with 280 news executives from 51 countries — mostly from the U.K., U.S., and European countries, but also from the Philippines, Vietnam, Mexico, Egypt, Kenya, Uruguay, and others. The two most common titles were editor-in-chief and CEO. Think of the trends report as the survey-based cousin to our own Nieman Lab Predictions for Journalism. There was a lot of crossover, from rethinking news distribution in the age of AI, what lessons to take from the rise of creators, and waking up to audience apathy (rather than distrust) as a major threat.

The Reuters Institute found confidence in the prospects for journalism is at an all-time low, author and senior research associate at RISJ Nic Newman wrote. About 38% of news executives reported feeling confident about the outlook for journalism in the year ahead — down from 60% just four years ago. As interviews for the report make clear, news publishers are especially concerned about AI disruption, attacks from politicians, and creators getting so much audience attention that they render journalism irrelevant.

When they considered the situation closer to home, however, the vibe was less gloomy. More than half (53%) of media execs interviewed were optimistic about their own news business — even if they had less confidence in capital-J journalism at large.

Here are some takeaways from the report:

Get familiar with “liquid content” and AEO

The RISJ report predicts the terms “vibe coding,” “AEO” (answer engine optimization), “digital provenance,” and “liquid content” will become mainstream this year.

Liquid content is defined as “content or stories that are not static but adapt in real time based on the viewer’s context, location, time, or interaction. AI facilitates this by tailoring content to individual preferences. Requires traditional media companies to move away from authoring ‘articles’ towards more flexible atomic objects.”

Companies are introducing a range of new AI-integrated browsers and specialized apps building on the trend. Some, like the Perplexity browser Comet, Huxe, and ChatGPT Pulse, assemble liquid content into personalized briefings of news. More than 75% of respondents said they expect this new breed of browsers and agentic apps to have a “large” or “very large” impact on news publishers.

Publishers eye AI money

When it comes to revenue, subscriptions remain king, followed by advertising and events. But despite concerns over Big Tech overreliance, the surveyed news executives see funding from platforms (including AI platforms) as the single “most significant new growth opportunity,” according to the report.

How low can Google go?

It’s not quite “Google Zero” but news publishers are preparing for the limbo when it comes to search referrals.

Google search traffic has gone down by a third globally (-33%) and by 38% in the United States, according to Chartbeat data from 2,500 sites. Traffic from Google Discover is also down 21% globally, according to the Chartbeat data generated for the report.

With certain types of content (i.e. service journalism and evergreen content like travel guides and stories about “What’s on TV tonight?”) hit especially hard, news executives reported they plan to shift editorial priorities in response to the rise of generative AI in 2026.

Most said they’d move toward more original reporting, contextual analysis, and human-centered stories they see as “less likely to be commoditized by AI chatbots and aggregators.”

Newsrooms plan to push journalists to act more like creators

“More than two-thirds (70%) of our respondents are concerned that they are taking time and attention away from publisher content,” the report notes. “Four in ten (39%) worry that they are at risk of losing top editorial talent to the creator ecosystem, which offers more control and potentially higher financial rewards.”

In response, more than three-quarters of respondents (76%) said that they’ll encourage journalists to behave more like creators this year. About 50% said they plan to partner with creators to help distribute content, 31% said they plan to hire creators to run their social media accounts, and another 28% plan to set up creator studios or other joint ventures with influencers.

Newsrooms also told RISJ researchers they plan to put more effort into YouTube and AI platforms in 2026 and less into Facebook and X.

The news industry will continue to lean into AI in 2026

From the report:

News organisations’ use of AI technologies continues to increase across all categories, with back-end automation considered ‘important’ this year by most of our respondents (97%), many of whom integrated pilot systems into content management systems in 2025. Newsgathering (82%) is now the second most important AI use, with coding and product development (81%) also gaining traction.

Though a little less than half (44%) said newsroom AI initiatives have yielded “promising” results, a similar number (42%) described the results of their AI experiments as “limited.”

“Two-thirds (67%) said they have not saved any jobs so far as a result of AI efficiencies,” the report notes. “Around one in seven (16%) said they have slightly reduced staff numbers but a further 9% have added new roles and costs.”

Read the full report here.