On 12 January, the Reuters Institute published its annual forecast, “Journalism, Media, and Technology trends and predictions for 2026”. The report was finalized after evaluating a survey from 280 senior newsroom executives, editors, and communication strategists across 51 countries. It situates journalism between two powerful and rapidly evolving forces – generative AI and the fast-rising creator economy.
A dual threat reshapes the battlefield
The report frames today’s media landscape as a battlefield under pressure from two directions. On one front, AI-driven “answer engines” such as Google’s AI Overviews and ChatGPT threaten to divert audiences before they ever reach a publisher’s site. News organisations now forecast a 40% decline in search referrals over the next three years. On the other front, personality-led creators and influencers continue to command attention and trust, often outpacing institutional news brands in reach and engagement.
Caught in the middle, news publishers are being forced to reassess long-held assumptions. They must balance the need to preserve distinctive, human-led journalism with the risks and maybe potential rewards of engaging with the very platforms that are a glaring threat to their audience base.
Media to invest in AI-resistant reporting
As AI accelerates the commodification of news, publishers are responding by leaning into what machines struggle to replicate. The survey points to a decisive pivot away from generic, service-oriented content toward journalism rooted in originality, depth, and authority. News publishers now plan to boost investment in original investigations (+91%) and contextual analysis (+82%), while cutting back on general news that chatbots can easily reproduce (–38%).
“Journalism’s best response is to double down on the things that make us valuable and unique,” said Taneth Evans, Head of Digital at The Wall Street Journal to the Reuters Institute. “This year has seen most waking up to the importance of quality, originality and direct, meaningful relationships with our audiences,” she notes.
Format innovation is part of this shift. Nearly four in five publishers (79%) plan to prioritise video, while 71% are investing more heavily in audio. The main idea behind this change of approach is to create immersive, narrative-driven experiences that resist easy fragmentation by AI tools.
AI licensing unlikely to become a major revenue stream
Media strategy is undergoing its most significant reshuffle in over a decade, with changing audience behaviors, monetisation opportunities, and technological trends. Publishers are increasingly focusing on YouTube (+74%) because video content continues to dominate engagement, offering high reach, longer user attention, and stronger advertising revenue potential. Similarly, AI platforms like ChatGPT (+61%) are attracting attention as tools for content creation, audience interaction, and personalization. At the same time, investment in X (-52%) and Facebook (-23%) is declining due to shrinking organic reach, growing concerns over misinformation and audience fragmentation.
Still, excitement about AI partnerships is balanced by caution. Only 20% of publishers anticipate that AI licensing deals will evolve into a major revenue source, with most seeing them as marginal additions rather than game-changers.
The creator challenge: Compete, collaborate or co-opt?
The rise of news creators presents traditional publishers with a familiar dilemma: to resist, adapt or embrace. Around 70% of respondents worry that creators are drawing audience attention away from traditional outlets and 39% fear losing top editorial talent to the more lucrative creator economy.
Responses vary widely. Most publishers (76%) plan to encourage journalists to develop more creator-like personas. Half intend to partner with influencers for distribution, while nearly a third (31%) are considering hiring creators directly.
“A key task for publishers is not just to deliver news but to build experiences that drive habitual use,” said Sophia Phan, Senior Audience Editor at Nine in Australia, to the Reuters Institute. “As traffic from search continues to decline, we must find better ways to directly engage our readers through newsletters, podcasts, or even interactive puzzles and educate them about our brand.”
The news industry at a turning point
Despite the intensity of these challenges, the air is not entirely despondent. The new creators and influencers may be a step ahead at capturing attention but news organisations retain a critical advantage of having credibility, context and accountability. The takeaway from the Reuters report is ultimately pragmatic and hopeful. The road to 2026 will be difficult but it also clarifies where journalism’s strengths lie. By prioritising investigative and in‑depth reporting, reducing reliance on algorithm-driven platforms for distribution and building direct connections with audiences through newsletters, podcasts, interactive features and other creative formats, news organisations can do more than survive the AI and creator shift, they can reaffirm why journalism still matters.
Download the full report here
Eesha Iftikhar Qazi
IFJ Intern in the Communications and Campaigns Department
Source: IFJ
