The pedestal we've placed "journalism" on will crumble. And that's brilliant.

"I know plenty about the practice of journalism to conclude that it never belonged on a pedestal. Obviously, as in all fields, there are outliers in quality. There are visionaries amongst its practitioners. But as a whole, journalism is a messy set of ideals, practices, and processes that are difficult to pin down, let alone wall in, except by pointing to institutions of bygone eras with arbitrary definitions."

"Let me point to a concept that will undoubtedly move closer to center stage in 2026: the newsfluencer. What is the difference between an online personality who unpacks current affairs using research-based methods on TikTok or YouTube and a journalist? Is it style? Is it where the content is published? Is it membership of the right union? Is it the intent or the method or the person or the quality of the result?"

"I'm not advocating abolishing journalism as a concept. Getting journalism off its pedestal is a starting point for an honest exploration of journalism's underlying value. Please, not for "society," but for the living, breathing citizens that we hope to be relevant for. That we hope will rely on us in their attempt to understand their society and world. Luckily, Julia Angwin from the Shorenstein Center at Harvard recently created a framework for those of us hoping to answer some of these difficult questions."

Many career journalists still identify as journalists despite long absences from reporting. Journalism contains messy ideals, practices, and processes with outliers and visionaries but lacks a stable modern definition tied to past institutions. The 'newsfluencer' concept involves online personalities unpacking current affairs using research-based methods on platforms like TikTok and YouTube. Questions arise about what distinguishes those creators from journalists: style, platform, union membership, intent, method, person, or result quality. A growing group of 'journalist personalities' may abandon old format constraints while preserving journalism's mission and focusing on citizens' understanding.

Read at Nieman Lab