1/ Today on Gridology I tackled an issue that I care deeply about: JOURNALISM.

The industry has gone through serious change in the last decade and I want to share my opinion on:

- my take on that shift
- how to build healthy media consumption habits for today’s world

2/ Large publishers once dominated my attention. Back when I was in high school and college, the majority of the content I consumed came from large publications and media conglomerates. I read @SInow articles over a bowl of cereal.

3/ I browsed the @nytimes app numerous times a day. I frequently navigated to growing online publications such as @verge, @mashable, and @TechCrunch to scratch my technology itch. On occasion, I’d sit down and watch @NBCNightlyNews with my dad.

4/ When social media grew in power, so did the amount of time I spent engaging with content served up by the algorithms. I engaged with news primarily through the feed. It was a lean back experience.

5/ When fake news entered the public conversation, I knew it was time to change my content consumption habits. When the accuracy of what I was reading was up in the air, I had to lean in to the content rather than lean back.

Facts matter.

6/ This meant focusing on what creators I followed rather than what publications or networks I consumed. For technology news, for example, I started specifically consuming @karaswisher, @nickbilton, @benthompson, and @CaseyNewton content.

7/ Starting in 2017, individual creators became more powerful.

Tools became more advanced @SubstackInc was founded and podcasting became mainstream.

8/ Discovery engines for creators such as @letterdropio, @NewsletterStack, @sounder_fm (shameless plug), @Stitcher, @Spotify, and @Podchaser are gaining steam to help niche creators develop sizeable audiences that can be monetized.

9/ All this while newspapers are on the decline:

According to @pewresearch, newsrooms have seen a 50% decrease in employment between 2008 and 2020.

10/ What does all this mean? Trust is king. I want to spend my time engaging with thoughtful, accurate, timely, and meaningful content.

11/ This leads us to today’s grid, which dives deeper into the tectonic shift happening in journalism and what it should mean for your media consumption habits.

12/ On the x-axis, we have the size of the organization.

On the y-axis, we have trustworthiness. Trust can be broken down into numerous components: a creator’s training, industry experience, truthfulness, accuracy, speed, and intention.

13/ This grid can help you create a healthy content diet in a fast-changing media landscape. Media consumption should be filled with a diverse set of voices—from large, trusted publishers to up-and-coming creators.

14/ We are too often trapped in our filter bubbles—reading, watching, and listening to content that only supports our point of view. We should be engaging with all types of content, especially content from creators we don’t agree with.

15/ When we step outside our content comfort zone, it empowers us to understand both sides of important issues, be well-rounded in our thinking, and have more engaging conversations.

16/ For me, this is what time spent looks like with content in each quadrant:

Accuracy-First Publishers: 30%
Fiction-First Publishers: 5%
Niche Creators & Rising Startups: 60%
The Algorithms: 5%

This allows me to engage with meaningful content AND see the news at 360-degrees.

17/ With so much content available, it’s more important than ever to make sure we are consuming the right content in the right amounts. My hope is this grid provides you with a framework to get started building the healthy habits needed to be properly informed.

18/ How do you think about your media consumption? I’m curious to hear your perspective. Read the full post here: https://gridology.substack.com/p/what-does-the-future-of-journalism

19/ Special thanks to the @CompoundWriting members who helped me get this post out the door: @stewfortier, @dan2hunt, and @tylerwince.