The proportion of people accessing news via social media and video networks in the United States — at 54% — is sharply up, overtaking both TV news (50%) and news Web sites/apps (48%) for the first time, according to the 2025 Reuters Digital News Report.  

Those aren’t all content creators, of course, but the rise of the content creator is clear.

“These creators are also attracting audiences that traditional media struggle to reach. Some of the most popular personalities over-index with young men, with right-leaning audiences, and with those that have low levels of trust in mainstream media outlets, seeing them as biased or part of a liberal elite,” the report says. “... These trends seem to be encouraging the growth of a personality-driven alternative media sector which often sets out its stall in opposition to traditional news organisations, even if, in practice, many of the leading figures are drawn from these.”

One such example of a journalist-turned-content-creator is Jessica Yellen, whose News Not Noise Substack and Instagram accounts have amassed a strong following. The former CNN chief White House correspondent launched her own platforms in 2018 with a promise: to cover the news differently.

“I spent 17 years working in TV news and learned an important lesson. The TV news model is really good at generating anxiety and ratings, but there’s a big audience that wants news told differently,” she writes on Substack.

“I launched on Instagram, making videos and posting stories that broke down major events with context and clarity, and identifying the noise you can ignore. It took off and today has grown into a super-engaged community of like-valued people across multiple platforms.”

Yellen is right: If you consume her content, she comes across as real, she talks to her audience authentically, and her content is easy to understand and interesting. 

Journalists in newsrooms today should be working to cultivate her connection with her audience and her storytelling techniques in their own content.

Another example is Noor Tagouri, who started her career as a broadcast journalist and is now an independent journalist and storyteller. Tagouri spoke of the rise of the independent journalist at INMA’s World Congress of News Media in May, urging the audience to rethink journalism and who it is for. 

By going independent, she said, she can think story first, medium second. She also said traditional journalism needs to recognise the value of authentic, independent voices. And like other content creators, she emphasises authenticity and collaboration in storytelling.

Here are three lessons I think we urgently need to learn from content creators:

1. Build trust with authenticity: Content creators put themselves at the center of their work. Their audience knows their voice, values, quirks, and perspective — and that builds loyalty. This is not about compromising journalistic objectivity; it’s about showing authenticity. When journalists show their process, motivations, and even their human side (think newsletters, TikToks, behind-the-scenes posts), it fosters stronger audience connection and trust.

2. Engage with your audience: Content creators engage constantly in comments, DMs, live chats, and treat their audience as collaborators, not just consumers. Journalism is far too often a one-way conversation. We must invite dialogue and respond. Ask questions. Incorporate audience input. That’s how you build community, not just readership.

3. Evolve storytelling formats: Content creators tailor content to each platform: short, punchy videos for TikTok; polished carousels for Instagram; long-form explainers on YouTube. Too often, journalists repurpose a 1,200-word article with a “link in bio” for social. We should package stories in ways that fit where people are consuming them — the format must adapt.

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