Newsrooms build the muscle to survive many futures at once

"In the coming year, the newsrooms that thrive won't be the ones chasing the next platform change, algorithm tweak, or business model that might save us. They will be the ones preparing for multiple realities at once, with focus, steadiness, and a plan. My prediction is simple: Scenario planning - done consistently, cross-functionally and proactively - will become a core newsroom discipline."

"We started small: a set of workshops with our senior leadership team. Then we expanded to our board and our full staff. We identified more than a dozen high-risk scenarios - from losing our 501(c)(3) status to major platform changes to legal and safety threats. For each risk, we mapped outcomes, identified triggers, and named what we needed to do now and in real time."

"The result wasn't fear or anxiety. It was clarity and alignment. This work strengthened our operational backbone. We invested in the infrastructure this work requires: upgraded insurance, legal support, digital and physical safety training, security tools, financial modeling, and more. We made scenario planning a regular practice, not just a one-time exercise. At the heart of this work is our crisis philosophy that defines how we show up in the critical moments: anchored by our journalism, accountable to our audiences, and guided by our values."

Scenario planning practiced consistently, cross-functionally, and proactively becomes a core newsroom discipline to prepare for multiple simultaneous realities. At The 19th, operational resiliency and safeguarding the organization were elevated through scenario work that began as protection and evolved into a stabilizing operating approach. Leadership workshops expanded to board and staff participation, identifying over a dozen high-risk scenarios, mapping outcomes, triggers, and required actions both now and in real time. The practice produced clarity and alignment, strengthened infrastructure — insurance, legal support, safety training, security tools, financial modeling — and institutionalized a crisis philosophy anchored by journalism, audience accountability, and values.

Read at Nieman Lab