Lessons Journalists can Learn From Creators

Today I published a paper with the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School about what journalists can learn from the online content creators who engage in journalist-style work and are building huge, loyal audiences that eclipse those of traditional media. I argue that the shift in attention can be attributed, in part, to the different types of relationships that journalists and creators have with their audiences. I describe those relationships through the lens of the three elements of trustworthiness — ability, benevolence, and integrity — that must be present for trust to exist in a relationship. What I found was that individual creators often worked hard to demonstrate ability, benevolence, and integrity to build trust with their audiences. They narrate their expertise, respond to reader questions or suggestions, and interact with their critics — all tactics that help build trust. News institutions have put less effort into building trustworthy relationships with audiences. They have cut back on comment sections, public editors, and other forms of interaction with the public. This does not mean that journalists are inherently less trustworthy. They often have rigorous internal processes for verifying information, but those are rarely exposed to the public. In other words, journalism has placed many markers of trust in institutional processes that are opaque to audiences, while creators try to embed the markers of trust directly in their interactions with audiences. My hope is that we can learn from creators about new ways to build trust with audiences. https://lnkd.in/eB-3ZRi8

"People seek out authenticity and connection." "Innovation is discouraged, and mediocrity is rewarded." "TikTokers aren't sending reporters into the field." "The way you trust absolutely matters." Nearly 200 comments on my viral post revealed four truths about journalism's future that we can no longer ignore. Here's the post ICYMI: https://lnkd.in/e2S3mVJt Truth #1: Audiences aren't abandoning news. They're abandoning distance. One commenter nailed it: "Young audiences don't distrust journalism. They distrust distance." They want to "understand the person behind the story, not just the story." Local news viewers connect "with anchors, not stations or brands." Legacy media spent decades perfecting institutional voice. Meanwhile, creators learned that "vulnerability is the new verification." Truth #2: We broke our promise of objectivity. Multiple commenters called out how networks "have veered into wild open bias" or are "so dedicated to the perception of objectivity that they'd rather spend an hour interviewing X and Y... instead of going outside for five seconds to look at the sky." One newsroom veteran admitted being "totally corrupted by the need to generate ratings." No wonder audiences fled to creators who at least admit their perspective upfront. Truth #3: The creator paradox is real—and dangerous. Here's what keeps me up at night: "TikTokers just get their stories from what the traditional news reports. They're relying on the traditional news to do that for them." Creators "are not held to the same level of scrutiny as to how they source their information." We're building a news ecosystem where the gatherers (journalists) are invisible and the distributors (creators) get all the trust. That's unsustainable. Truth #4: Adaptation isn't optional—it's survival. The most hopeful comment? "Both journalism and medicine are undergoing MAJOR shifts... they MUST adapt to their audience… because if they don't - something less credible will." We need "real innovators who know how to do this while STILL maintaining journalistic integrity." The goal isn't choosing between truth and personality. It's learning to "blend truth and personality in a more personal and authentic way." The path forward is clear: ➡️Stop defending the fortress. Start building bridges. ➡️Meet audiences where they are without abandoning what makes journalism essential. ➡️Partner with creators who share our values, not our format. ➡️Make news "more truthful/verifiable" AND "more relatable, more personal, more local." Because if we don't evolve, we won't just lose the audience. We'll lose the truth. What's one change your newsroom could make tomorrow to rebuild trust? #FutureOfNews #MediaTrust #JournalismEvolution

I did a Q&A with Lucinda Jordaan, Cherilyn Ireton and WAN-IFRA, the World Association of News Publishers. A little excerpt from their newsletter below, link in the comments: What can journalists learn from content creators? Content creators value relatability, accessibility, transparency and responsiveness much more so than traditional journalists do. And that’s exactly what I hope we borrow for journalism. More specifically, good content creators often read every single comment, DM and email they receive. And then they respond to those queries a lot more regularly than traditional journalists do. Creators talk openly about their experiences that led them to their interest in a topic, including their biases and relationships. They talk about how the work gets created and why. Great creators talk like regular humans, repeat themselves and slow down when newcomers join them. People often ask me how content creators could be more transparent than a traditional journalist. One way is that they often talk about how they make money publicly in a way that traditional journalists and most publishers would never. Audiences that don’t hear regularly about the revenue model will fill in the blanks in their heads with wrong assumptions, as was often the case at the publishers I worked for.