It is almost the end of the year, and, therefore, it is time for reflection.

In 2025, discussions about journalism, news media, and AI were unavoidable. Not surprisingly because the technology is increasingly employed and experimented with by newsrooms. How the news ecosystem changes as a result still remains to be seen.

I believe AI will not be the main or dominant conversation topic in 2026, although the real value of the technology to news will remain a crucial issue. I am examining this further in a chapter written for the book Valuing News: Digital Platforms and Journalism Futures, published in January 2026.

However, the issues related to the creator economy and teen news consumption are becoming increasingly relevant to the future of news.

As I recently pointed out at the Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand Communication Association (AANZCA) conference, how AI and new search functions shape our news media is partly dependent on the creator and influencer economy as influencers take a greater share of the audience’s attention.

Similarly, Professor Jeremy Gilbert wrote in his NiemanLab prediction for 2026 that news publishers that succeed in the new year are those embracing news creators: “Successful news publishers will be those who build compelling pitches and value propositions that recruit and retain journalists who command audience attention.”

At the AANZCA conference, Professor Karin Wahl-Jorgensen also floated the idea of “boutique media” organisations that employ new forms of communication by utilising social media and personal branding.

These “boutiques” are smaller than traditional news organisations, she said. They are more specialised and driven by the vision, charisma, and persona of individual creators. They also depend on an emotional bond with their audiences.

As we know, teen audiences are consuming news on different platforms and via news influencers rather than via traditional news. The News Literacy Project report found almost 80% of teens said “journalists fail to produce information that is more impartial than other content creators online.” Furthermore, 84% of teens described journalists as “fake, crazy, boring, biased, and sad.”

In our Trust in News in New Zealand research, we also found young people were concerned about news being unnecessarily emotional, too opinionated, and irrelevant to the issues that concern them.

In this context, the initiatives such as INMA’s Young Audiences Initiative make sense. As the initiative notes, with teens increasingly consuming creator-led and community-driven media, news publishers have a real challenge ahead.

In 2026, news organisations have to evolve, adapt, or risk becoming irrelevant to the future audiences.

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