News Alchemists #3: "Outlets pivot to promoting action, not just news."

This post was originally published on LinkedIn.

Continuing a series I started in late 2024, here I'm sharing 7 articles I read last week about audience, community, and sustainability that made me think and gave me hope 📚

1. Outlets pivot to promoting action, not just news 👉 LINK

🧞Anita Li's 2025 Prediction for Nieman Journalism Lab: "Why do we, as journalists, do what we do? What’s our fundamental value? And how do we translate that value to the public in a way that’s clear and accessible?"

2. The metamorphosis of media leadership 👉 LINK

🧞Patrick Boehler in his Re:filtered newsletter: "I've watched my own generation of leaders chase algorithmic success just as our predecessors chased broadcast ratings. Both approaches share the same flaw: measuring success through reach rather than service."

3. Hopefully pissed off 👉 LINK

🧞Candice Fortman in her first piece for the JSK Fellowships at Stanford.

4. Learning from membership models: Daily Maverick’s superpower database 👉 LINK

🧞Madeleine White on The Audiencers. I love this from the 🧩 Daily Maverick. (Disclaimer: I'm currently working on a project with them as an external consultant.)

5. How The Jersey Bee uses journalism to improve public health 👉 LINK

🧞Simon Galperin on 🧩 The Jersey Bee.

6. Can solutions journalism work for local newsrooms? 👉 LINK

Mark Coddington & Seth Lewis in the RQ1 newsletter, which "brings you up to speed on the latest research on news and journalism".

7. Publishers find the AI era not all that lucrative 👉 LINK

🧞Rasmus Kleis Nielsen's 2025 Prediction for Nieman Journalism Lab:
"While perhaps a disappointing prospect, I hope this will also be liberating. If they don’t stand around waiting for the Godot of elusive AI licensing deals, they can focus on what matters — creating value not for tech companies’ training models, but for members of the public who want to make sense of the world beyond personal experience."