Media journalists' top stories of the year – and what it means for you in 2026 |
2025 has been a big year in the media – and we're not the only ones in the thick of trying to make sense of it all. We asked fellow top brains and experts on what's stood out in their coverage this year and what lessons news professionals can take into 2026.
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My favourite piece from 2025:
The article that sums up a lot of my favourite conversations is this one on a revised framework for 2026.
What this says about digital journalism heading into 2026:
There's an essential shift needed in journalism from volume to value. Instead of a relationship with audiences that's driven by the search for growth, the relationship should be about purposeful engagement, with a focus on outcomes & long-term impact.
Concretely, this means redefining "how we've always done things". In particular, reimagining the traditional marketing funnel:
One space I'll be watching next year:
For this all to succeed, community-building needs to become part of editorial work. Whether it's running reader-led journalism like The Times, moving to a user-needs model or ensuring the form of articles follows function.
My favourite piece from 2025:
A long-form profile of Nicholas Carlson, the long-time editor of Business Insider who left that publication last year to launch a startup called Dynamo.
Rather than hosting content on its own website, Dynamo is 100 per cent focused on creating high-quality, evergreen video content that's distributed on platforms like YouTube, Linkedin, Instagram, and TikTok.
What this says about digital journalism heading into 2026:
1. The major tech platforms are becoming less and less interested in sending traffic to publisher websites. While some publishers have responded by doubling down on their own websites, outlets like Dynamo have adopted the if-you-can't-beat-them-join-them approach of distributing content natively on the platforms. Its longterm bet is that the increased reach will more than make up for the fact that these outlets are at the complete mercy of platform algorithms over which they have no control.
2. Carlson only raised $3.5 million for the startup and is obsessed with the unit economics of each piece of content. Gone are the ZIRP (zero interest-rate policy) days when publishers could just burn through mountains of VC cash to fund their expansion. Outlets today need to make sure every piece of content is profitable.
3. Carlson isn't bothering with day-to-day news coverage and is instead only investing in evergreen videos. Publishers still waste way too many resources covering the exact same news that every other outlet is covering, and this means most of their content becomes worthless within hours of publication.
One space I'll be watching next year:
I'm usually an optimist when it comes to media, but unfortunately I have a lot of anxiety about a coming recession, especially if the AI bubble pops soon.
Media is the least recession-proof industry in existence, and as a struggling media entrepreneur myself I'm worried that my business will get even harder than it already is.
My favourite piece from 2025:
When I caught up with Liesbeth Nizet, head of future audiences monetisation at Mediahuis at FIPP Congress to talk about her work with engaging younger audiences – available both in podcast and write-up form.
What this says about digital journalism heading into 2026:
All eyes are on AI at the moment, whether that be the very real impact of Google AI overviews or wrestling with AI's place in journalism in the future. But Liesbeth's role is focused on answering questions that I think aren't a priority (but should be) for many publishers: how to connect with the next generation of readers.
This isn't a pure audience growth strategy either; revenue generation is as important a part of her job as engagement. Younger audiences will pay for games, entertainment and travel, from the latest Fortnite skin to an Instagrammable holiday.
"So how can we make our news so interesting, or so relevant, or so representative for them that they want to pay for it?” she said in this podcast. I loved her honesty but also........