New research from FT Strategies and Knight Lab breaks the myth — plus why the "E" in STEPP matters more than ever, and what we're up to at the Saudi Media Forum.
New research from FT Strategies and Knight Lab confirms what we’ve been saying: Next gen audiences are hungry for news. The problem isn’t demand—it’s delivery
In early February, The Washington Post laid off somewhere between 350 and 375 journalists — nearly half its newsroom. Sports, books, foreign bureaus, podcasts, all gutted. The chorus was immediate: go independent. Start a Substack. Build your own thing. Books critic Ron Charles launched one the same day.
I'm not going to tell you that's wrong. Some of the most important journalism happening right now is being done by independent creators. We wouldn't have a business without it as our entire model at Influencer Journalism is built on the premise that independent creators, working both in news and outside of it, are doing extraordinary work that newsrooms need to partner with.
But "just go independent" as universal advice for 375 newly displaced journalists? That's a panic response dressed up as empowerment and it glosses over some hard realities.
Why Journalism Infrastructure Matters — And Why Creators Need It Too
Let's start with the institutional side. The journalism that requires the most resources like accountability reporting, investigative work, foreign correspondence, beat coverage that holds power to account depends on infrastructure that no individual creator can replicate alone. Editors, legal teams, FOIA budgets, travel budgets, health insurance, and the institutional credibility that comes with a newsroom byline. When the Post shuts down its foreign bureaus, that's decades of sourcing networks, institutional knowledge, and on-the-ground capacity gone.
That infrastructure is irreplaceable and it's what makes newsrooms worth partnering with in the first place.
Now let's talk about the creator side. The creator economy is real and growing, valued at roughly $200 billion in 2025 with a 22.7% compound annual growth rate. But the financial picture for individual creators is brutally uneven. According to the 2025 Creator Earnings Report from Influencer Marketing Hub and NeoReach, which surveyed over 3,000 creators, nearly 57% of full-time creators earn less than $44,000, the U.S. living wage threshold. Separately, data from Linktree and Goldman Sachs shows that only about 4% of the world's 207 million creators earn over $100,000 a year.
The top earners succeed because they had massive built-in audiences, diversified across 7+ revenue streams, and operated like businesses from day one. That's not where most newly laid-off journalists are starting from.
Running an independent operation means doing sales, accounting, marketing, legal, content, and distribution simultaneously, with no safety net. (Trust me. I know this firsthand.)
So here's where we land: the answer isn't everyone going solo, and it isn't everyone staying institutional. It's building the connective tissue between the two.
Our STEPP Framework, Standards, Transparency, Engagement, Platform-Native, Public Service, is designed for organizations. It’s an institutional strategy. But it only works if both sides of the equation are strong: newsrooms with the infrastructure to support serious journalism, and independent creators with the audiences, trust, and platform fluency to extend that journalism's reach.
The Reuters Institute’s 2026 Trends Report backs this up: 76% of publishers are now encouraging journalists to behave more like creators, and 50% are actively partnering with creators for distribution. Smart news orgs are building creator studios, signing talent deals, and finding ways to bring creator energy inside institutional walls. And that’s what the Post layoffs make more urgent, not less.
The “P” in STEPP: Public Service Is the Point
This is exactly why the "P" in our STEPP Framework — Public Service — is vital. Every other element of STEPP exists to serve this one: the purpose of creator-newsroom partnerships is to serve communities with trustworthy, accurate information.
Public service is the legal team protecting a reporter on a sensitive story. The editor who pushes back to make reporting stronger. The institutional weight that gives a story consequences. And when creator partnerships are rooted in it, they extend that backbone to audiences traditional distribution will never reach — like when High Country News partnered with a TikTok creator and the journalism didn't get diluted.
Dispatch from Riyadh: Where 63% of the Country Is Under 30
Earlier this month, I had the privilege of speaking at the Saudi Media Forum 2026 in Riyadh, which brought together 300+ media leaders and experts from over 20 countries for 150+ sessions on the future of media. The theme was “Media in a Shaping World” and couldn’t have been more fitting.
I spoke on two panels: one on how newsrooms can adopt influencer-style tactics to reach new audiences, and another on revenue diversification strategies for media organizations. Both conversations kept circling back to the same thing about how the old playbook isn't working, and the organizations willing to experiment with creator partnerships are the ones finding traction.
Here’s a stat that should make every newsroom pay attention: 63% of Saudi Arabia’s population is under 30. This is one of the youngest, most digitally connected populations in the world. Social media penetration is massive—TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat (!), and X dominate daily life. These are audiences who consume news differently, engage differently, and expect to be met where they are.
The conversations in Riyadh reinforced everything we believe at Influencer Journalism. We're seeing time and time again that young audiences aren’t avoiding news but they’re avoiding traditional delivery. They want information that’s platform-native, personality-driven, and speaks their language. And the region is investing heavily in figuring out how to reach them, with the forum hosting over 2,000 content creators and influencers from 90+ countries as part of its Influence Track.
When we zoom out globally, the opportunity for newsroom-creator partnerships isn’t just a Western media conversation. It’s happening everywhere and in many cases, the Global South and Gulf countries are leading the way.
Worth Your Time
🌎 The Independent Journalism Atlas Has Launched! Our friends Ryan Kellett, Justin Bank, and Liz Kelly Nelson at Project C have launched something incredible: The Independent Journalism Atlas, a sortable, searchable prototype database of 1,001 independent journalism creators.
Every day, thousands of creators are committing extraordinary acts of journalism across social, email, and the web. But finding them? That’s been the vexing question. The Atlas is the answer. Think of it as the IMDb or Wikipedia of independent journalism and you can search by keywords, filter by topic, platform, or geography, and explore through interactive sunburst wheels, treemaps, or traditional lists.
Ryan, Justin, and Liz collectively walked away from big corporate media jobs at The Washington Post, Axios, NPR, Gannett, Vox, and The New York Times to build this. The Atlas was built in weeks using AI (Claude Code, principally), grounded in months of research, publishing, and community-convening. Explore it, share it, and submit names they’re missing.
More links worth clicking:
🇳🇱 We were featured in Villamedia, the Netherlands' leading journalism trade publication on bridging the gap between journalists and content creators. Always cool to see this work resonate internationally.
🏛️ Lenfest Institute just announced its Philadelphia News Creators Network fellows — four teams of local newsrooms and creators splitting $200K as part of the Institute's $1M investment in creator-newsroom partnerships. This is the infrastructure we keep talking about, being built in real time.
📊 Nieman Lab: WaPo layoffs disproportionately affected union members of color — Guild data shows 50% of Hispanic/Latino members and 45% of Black members were cut. The Post hired two race and ethnicity reporters in 2021. Both were laid off on February 4. The diversity angle of this story isn't getting enough attention.
📰 Press Gazette is tracking 2026 journalism job cuts in real time and it's not just the Post. The NY Daily News lost 28% of its union members, the BBC is shutting its regional investigative unit, and the Shorenstein Center's Journalist's Resource laid off its top editors after funders pulled out. The pattern is accelerating.
📲 High Country News Case Study — We published this one recently and it's still on our minds. A 50-year-old newsroom that went from direct mail to partnering with a TikTok creator and saw real impact.
📚 The STEPP Framework — If you're new here, this is our comprehensive guide to building ethical creator-newsroom partnerships. It's the foundation everything we do is built on.
Now Booking: Q2 Trainings and Creative Services
We're actively taking on clients for Q2 2026! Whether your newsroom needs strategic training or hands-on creative support, we've got you covered.
🎓 Trainings & Workshops:
Social video strategy — From TikTok to YouTube Shorts and Reels, we'll help your team create platform-native content that actually reaches audiences
Influencer and creator partnerships — How to identify, vet, and collaborate with creators using the STEPP Framework
AI in the newsroom — Practical, responsible applications of AI tools for journalism and audience engagement, in collaboration with our sister company, Adriana Lacy Consulting
Custom workshops — Tailored to your team's specific needs, from digital transformation to audience development, in collaboration with our sister company, Adriana Lacy Consulting
That's it for this one. If you're a journalist figuring out what's next, a newsroom rethinking your creator strategy, or just someone trying to make sense of all this, we're here. Talk soon.
Adriana Lacy is the founder and CEO of Field Nine Group, where she leads Influencer Journalism and developed the STEPP Framework for ethical newsroom-creator partnerships. Previously, she worked at The New York Times, LA Times, and Axios.
New research from FT Strategies and Knight Lab breaks the myth — plus why the "E" in STEPP matters more than ever, and what we're up to at the Saudi Media Forum.
For 50 years, High Country News used direct mail to find readers. Then they partnered with a TikTok creator who understands water policy. Here's what happened and what it teaches about platform-native content
The Reuters Institute's 2026 report confirms creators are essential to journalism distribution. Plus: joining WAN-IFRA's News Creator Exchange board, and what it looks like to invest in genuine partnerships
