From 'Trad News' to AI: The evolving journalism landscape

Back in January, I wrote about the growing tensions between traditional journalism and the rise of “creators” and “news influencers.” At the time, I was reacting to what felt like a fear-based response from the news industry – one that blamed these emerging voices for eroding trust, siphoning ad dollars and flooding the information space with mis- and disinformation.

It was a familiar narrative. I had seen the same panic in the mid-aughts when bloggers were dismissed as pajama-clad amateurs, accused of disrupting the industry, stealing audiences and spreading unreliable information. It took traditional media far too long to recognize that blogs – like newsletters, YouTube channels, and TikTok today – weren’t the enemy. They were (and are) powerful tools for building direct relationships with audiences.

But my January piece only scratched the surface. The reality is that terms like “news influencer” have become overused, catch-all labels – often wielded dismissively to describe anything that feels new, different or a little scary. These words have been used interchangeably to refer to anyone delivering news-adjacent content with a personality-driven approach. And while some of these sources are indeed spreading misinformation (Pew’s recent study of the top 500 news influencers underscores this vividly), lumping everyone into the same category obscures the more nuanced reality.

The Spectrum of Independent News Creators

We need a more precise way to define who’s actually doing journalism in the creator space. Not everyone labeled a “news influencer” fits the stereotype of an engagement-chasing pundit. Take Marisa Kabas, who broke the Federal funding freeze story on Bluesky before reporting it in her newsletter. Or Matt Brown, whose meticulous reporting on the business of college sports has made him an essential industry voice. They don’t belong in the same category as viral political TikTokers or partisan Facebook commentators. But without a clearer framework, they – and many others – get unfairly grouped under the same umbrella.

That’s why I spent the last six weeks collaborating with some incredibly smart people to classify the news ecosystem. The result is an infographic that attempts to capture the full spectrum of where news content is being produced and distributed today. The story starts on the left with the most established and longest-produced sources, including established non- and for-profit news organizations or, as I recently heard it called: “Trad News.” Then, we worked from left-to-right, adding in the newer sources, ending on the right (for now) with AI-Generated News. We also zoomed in to refine what a “news influencer” actually is – and added a new category: Content Creator-Model Journalists.

Although not exhaustive, we aimed to capture key attributes of each category—business models, defining characteristics and notable pros and cons. This level of detail was crucial in distinguishing these categories from one another. As we mapped them out, patterns emerged: newer models often built on (or reacted against) earlier ones, only to become vulnerable to some of the same pitfalls over time.

One data point I would have liked to include for each category is a rough estimate of how many entities fall within it. The further you move from left to right on the spectrum, the more crowded the space becomes. Traditional news organizations, while shrinking in number, still hold significant influence. But as you move toward newer models – particularly news influencers and AI-generated content – the numbers likely surge exponentially, with a vast and rapidly growing volume of content circulating online.

This infographic was designed to map the full news ecosystem, but its core purpose was to help situate content creator-model journalists and news influencers within it. That’s where we’ll focus here.

The problem with ‘News Influencer’

The term “news influencer” is a tricky one. “Influencer” comes from the marketing world, and slapping it onto journalism drags in all the baggage that comes with it. There’s a big difference between a journalist being influential and calling them an influencer — just as there’s a difference between Bob Woodward influencing our view of U.S. history and a TikTok personality influencing us to buy a protein powder.

So in this new framework, “news influencers” are more narrowly defined: they primarily share takes and analysis (aka their protein powder) rather than producing original reporting. Think of them as the Opinion section of the internet, where everyone from Joe Rogan on YouTube to your aunt in Florida on Facebook has a platform.

This distinction matters. It’s why NPR’s classification of V Spehar as a “news influencer” in a recent interview sparked such a backlash. Spehar, after all, has worked in established newsrooms and contributed to Poynter’s MediaWise fact-checking project. Lumping them in with pure opinion-driven influencers erases the actual journalistic work they do.

Defining a New Category: Content Creator-Model Journalists

The term Content Creator-Model Journalist may be a mouthful, but it better captures what’s happening in the most rigorous, personality-driven corners of independent journalism. It’s where many journalists who are leaving traditional newsrooms set up camp. This is the space I cover here with Project C and support with efforts like Going Solo and always, always deep research into how this space is evolving.

This category includes people like:

• Marisa Kabas (investigative journalism)

• Matt Brown (the business of college sports)

• Katelyn Jetelina (Public health)

• Bisan Owda (reporting from Gaza)

• Becca Farsace (tech reviews)

• Chris Cillizza (political analysis)

• Emily Atkin (climate crisis)

• Kyla Scanlon (economic news)

• Joss Fong & Adam Cole (science explainers)

• Mosheh Oinounou (general headlines and commentary)

• Eric Newcomer (tech & venture capital)

That’s just a short subset from a much longer list I’ll be sharing very soon. All of these journalists are producing original reporting and/or creating content rooted in core journalistic principles. Some, like Cillizza and Farsace, have even embraced the term “content creator” themselves, recognizing that their work straddles both worlds.

The Growing Role of AI in News

This ecosystem is evolving quickly. The category to the furthest right on the spectrum is AI-Generated News – a space that’s rapidly flooding social platforms with auto-generated content. As AI-written articles and deepfake videos become more common, the need for trusted, human-driven news sources will only grow.

This isn’t to be confused, by the way, with newsrooms and journalists using AI in their work, where the new technology has been crucial to helping sift through large amounts of data or help with other more process-driven pieces of the work.

What Comes Next?

This framework isn’t perfect, but it’s a step toward better defining and understanding the shifting news landscape. If we want to have a meaningful conversation about the future of journalism, we can’t just write off independent creators as a monolith. We need to be more precise, more thoughtful, and way less reactionary.

If you’re at the Knight Media Forum this week, I’ll be moderating a panel about the shifting definitions of journalists and journalism on Wednesday, joined by Trusting News executive director Joy Mayer, Washington Post CCO Kathy Baird, Pew Research director Katerina Eva Matsa and content creator Becca Farsace.

👏👏👏 A HUGE THANK YOU to Allison Rockey, Justin Bank and Ryan Kellett for helping me map the ecosystem. 👏👏👏

(P.S. If you like maps of things as a way to orient yourself in knowledge, check out Evan Shapiro’s incredibly cool and useful Map of the Media Universe.)

If you want to chat or help contribute to future versions of the News Ecosystem graphic. Or, hey, if you’re WAY better at data viz than me and my Canva account, reach out to me at [email protected].