2025. A year to celebrate its passing? Possibly.
Economic woes, continuing wars, astonishing attacks on the free press, by, of all people, the president of the United States, the impact of AI on publishers’ SEO strategies and the flooding of the content zone with AI-generated slop.
Will things get better in 2026? Let’s hope so.
This is my wish list for the twelve months ahead:
- That society realises that the best, most insightful, most innovative, most entertaining content is created by humans and that people go out of their way to find it.
- That publishers mean what they say when they say that AI is not meant to replace journalists, but to free up their time to do even better work!
- That publishers continue in their efforts to build community and membership offerings, to help draw readers / viewers / listeners into direct relationships.
- That societies around the world remember the vital role journalists play and support publishers in their efforts to push back against government encroachments.
- That publishers redouble their efforts to build trust, to eschew clickbait, to deliver real value, to celebrate their humanity, to promote their ethical codes – to emphasise all the things that make them special and distinctive from non-mainstream publishers.
- That publishers fight back hard against any attempts to curb press freedom. In the US specifically, that means resisting government efforts to suppress critical voices; it means media companies not doing deals to settle unreasonable lawsuits but going to court to argue their case, and… win!
This article was first published in InPublishing magazine. If you would like to be added to the free mailing list to receive the magazine, please register here.
