Nieman Lab offers these 7 newsroom-specific predictions
Newsroom Transformation Initiative Blog | 15 January 2025
Nieman Lab’s annual list of predictions always offers great food for thought for anyone in the media industry, and this year is no exception.
Many of the predictions unsurprisingly center on AI and the role of the media during a second Trump presidency. All are worth reading, but I’ve curated seven of the predictions here that align closely with newsroom transformation.
1. Embrace the barbell
“When news organisations try to do everything, they think they’re showing strength, but they’re inadvertently contributing to their own vulnerability. The result is a flood of mediocre content that becomes easier to dismiss, easier to replace with less-credible sources, easier to lose in the noise. It’s time to abandon middling stories and go very short or very long.” — Millie Tran, chief digital content officer at the Council on Foreign Relations.
2. Data and context makes a comeback
“As more of our digital experiences become mediated by personalisation algorithms and fandoms built around individual content creators, I believe there’s an opportunity in 2025 for information services that give people back a sense of context and overview. … At Yahoo, we’re setting out to build exactly these types of data services: guides that draw on a variety of metrics to help you situate yourself, navigate different walled-garden media spaces, and discover things beyond what algorithms understand to be in your interest graph.” — Robin Kwong, product director for data services at Yahoo News in the United States.
3. Get beyond the fact-check
“Journalism’s fight against disinformation risks irrelevance if it fails to consider how the human mind processes and reacts to both falsehoods and facts. By understanding these cognitive dynamics, we can design strategies that truly resonate and drive change.” — Cristina Tardáguila, founder of Lupa in Brazil.
4. Focus on what people actually need
“By focusing on creating news that’s useful, relatable, and tailored to real attention spans, journalism can reclaim its role in people’s lives. In 2025, the goal won’t just be producing great stories — it’ll be making sure those stories reach people in ways that matter to them. That’s how we’ll stay relevant and rebuild trust.” — Lynn Walsh, assistant director of Trusting News.
5. Embrace influencers as allies
“For years, journalists have resisted collaborating with nontraditional storytellers, believing credibility comes from formal training and a clear divide between the newsroom and outside content creators. But the media landscape has changed. Today’s audiences, especially younger consumers, get their news through platforms dominated by influencers who make even complex topics feel accessible and engaging. Partnering with influencers may require trade-offs, like easing editorial control or adopting a more casual tone. However, these collaborations offer a powerful way to amplify accurate information and combat misinformation.” — Marlon A. Walker, managing editor of local for The Marshall Project in the United States.
6. The distinct human writer becomes more essential
“This infusion of AI-driven content will make the distinct voice of the human writer more essential than ever. As AI-generated content becomes ubiquitous, the qualities that define human writing — authenticity, emotional depth, and creative intuition — will become even more critical, ensuring that a writer’s presence is felt throughout a narrative.” — Mario García, CEO of García Media.
7. Your audience team is now your creator team
“If your audience team is still siloed away, powerless to impact your colleagues or readers, your organisation’s chances of survival in these transformative times is slim. Correct course and appoint a chief audience officer to jumpstart the silo-breaking. Where does this transition leave the hundreds of journalists still employed in audience? The best audiencers are busy running head first into what’s next: creator journalists or what Pew calls news influencers.” — Ryan Kellett, a Nieman-Berkman Klein Fellow for Journalism Innovation.
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