News Alchemists #2: "Journalism needs to decenter journalism."

This post was originally published on LinkedIn.

Like it or not, journalism must change. And it's encouraging to read so many voices indicating that journalism is already changing, in a direction that put people back at the centre of everything we do, serving their needs and supporting communities. Here are 7 articles I read last week about audience, community, and sustainability that made me think, and gave me hope 📚

1. Journalism needs to decenter journalism. 👉 LINK

Inspiring post by 🧞Candice Fortman – former Executive Director of 🧩 Outlier Media in Detroit – that starts with an important truth: "Saving journalism has never been the job."

2. We don't (always) need to meet readers 'where they are' 👉 LINK

"...we need to meet readers where we can best balance mission and sustainability." By 🧞Damon Kiesow.

3. Taking lessons from independent bookstores 👉 LINK

Eric Nuzum's 2025 Prediction for Nieman Journalism Lab (For me, the best one of the lot this year.)

4. Here is my daily experience reading news on the web from so many sources 👉 LINK

TL;DR: it often sucks.

5. Advancing community-centered journalism: Five essential practices 👉 LINK

🧞Damian Radcliffe on Medium for the Agora Journalism Center.

6. Home page personalisation grows subscriber CTRs, female engagement at Schibsted 👉 LINK

By Michelle Palmer Jones for INMA – via Media Finance Monitor.

7. The rise of informal news networks 👉 LINK

🧞Heather Chaplin's 2025 Prediction for Nieman Journalism Lab: "Once the goal is no longer to recreate news organizations as they existed in the past, but rather to ensure that reliable news and information flows, then possibility blossoms."