It’s a new year, one that undoubtedly will present fresh challenges for journalists globally.
Already, we’re bearing witness to the devastating wildfires in and around Los Angeles, and taking note of how newsrooms are choosing to cover the impacts on people and their communities, while ensuring their own safety.
One week from today, too, President-elect Donald Trump will return to office in the U.S.; the Israel-Hamas war continues, as does Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; and increasingly around the world, journalists and newsrooms are forced to relocate and report from exile, to avoid persecution in their native countries. Media viability, meanwhile, remains a chief concern for the industry, and AI technologies and tools continue to progress.
As we kickstart 2025, we asked our ICFJ Knight Fellows about their outlooks for the new year, and what challenges and/or opportunities they’re preparing to face head on. The Fellows also provided their topline advice for student and early-career journalists to succeed in today’s news industry.
Here are insights, from learning experience designer and project manager, Mattia Peretti, Daniel Nardin of Amazonia Vox, and El Toque’s José J. Nieves.
What challenge and/or opportunity related to journalism do you expect to face through your work in 2025?
Mattia Peretti
Across the industry, more and more people started asking the fundamental questions that Anita Li — publisher and CEO of The Green Line — shared in her Nieman Lab Prediction for 2025: “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?”
We must keep asking these questions and focus relentlessly on what value we can provide to the people we are here to serve. We have to continue evolving our mission from “informing the public” to helping people navigate their lives and meaningfully participate in their communities.
In 2025, my own mission remains that of supporting the growing movement working on reinventing journalism by putting people’s needs and curiosity at the center of everything we do.
Daniel Nardin
I believe artificial intelligence will continue to thrive but may start creating a certain fatigue regarding content production itself. We must remember that journalism thrives on real stories from real people, and I bet that historically marginalized and invisible cases and characters will experience renewed interest and become a distinguishing feature of committed, responsible, and original journalism.
In this sense, even though the pursuit of trending numbers dominates much of the news agenda, there is room for the growth and visibility of genuine, real stories featuring local voices from outside the mainstream.
This is especially true when we consider the recent years of rising global average temperatures, much rhetoric with little action, and the impacts of climate change on populations, particularly in the Global South. Therefore, I believe climate coverage will gain even more prominence — especially in a year marked by significant international geopolitical developments, which raise expectations about decisions that may reverberate worldwide. However, with journalism, we must go beyond official speeches and statements and finally put people and their voices at the center.
José J. Nieves
This year, two major opportunities — both of which also pose significant challenges — are particularly inspiring for me and my team. The first is the chance to demonstrate that journalism, as a public service, can also be a sustainable business.
Over the past four years, our team at El Toque has developed an innovative service: a tracker for the informal currency market in Cuba, powered by artificial intelligence. This high-impact product has taught us that journalism is not just about telling compelling stories; it can also take the form of practical tools that address critical needs in the lives of our audience, such as a calculator or a data visualization. Until now, we have provided this information for free, sustaining it through grants. However, in the coming months, we will take on a new challenge: testing monetization models to prove — to ourselves and the sector — that a nonprofit media outlet can generate commercial revenue while maintaining its mission and independence. For a project that has relied primarily on grants for over a decade, this is an ambitious and exciting step forward.
The second challenge is equally motivating: testing a hypothesis we’ve begun exploring as journalists in exile. We believe that exile media can discover new sources of revenue by developing products or content that meet the needs of diaspora communities where they settle in search of safety.
Many exile media outlets operate with their focus firmly fixed on their countries of origin, working tirelessly to break censorship and combat the authoritarian regimes that forced them to leave. However, this long-distance focus sometimes blinds us to opportunities right in front of us: exiles and migrants, like us, also face information needs tied to their new realities in host communities.
I believe there is a real opportunity for exile media to develop content or verticals that function like local media, serving communities defined not only by geography but by cultural and ethnic identity. In our case, this means connecting more deeply with the Cuban-American community, offering information that addresses their new reality and exploring business models unique to local media — distinct from those supporting outlets focused solely on their countries of origin.
These two endeavors — pursuing sustainability through commercial revenue and creating products for diaspora communities — represent an evolution of my mission. In 2025, I remain committed to developing strategies that strengthen exile media and journalists, a task that continues to fill me with enthusiasm and purpose.
What skills, tools, and resources should student journalists and early-career professionals equip themselves with to succeed in today’s media industry?
Peretti
The most important thing for journalism students and early-career journalists is not a tool or a specific skill but to embrace that being a journalist does not mean only creating content, whether it is text, audio, or video.
The industry needs more people who want to work in journalism because of a desire to understand what audiences need, how we can listen to them more effectively, and make them feel part, and actually be part, of what we do.
If you want to make a difference in journalism today, start by recognizing that it was never meant to be a mere exercise of content creation. Journalism is a service to people and to our societies.
Nardin
Specialized knowledge in a particular area of interest remains a differentiator. Whether in fields like AI, climate change, international conflicts, or refugees, in-depth technical expertise will be a critical advantage in the face of the superficial homogenization of content driven by algorithms.
Additionally, as has been a growing trend for some years, having strong multimedia and multiplatform skills — understanding different techniques for adapting and distributing content to diversify audiences — is crucial. Another aspect I would highlight, which could gain traction, is media literacy. This is an essential area where journalism can be a significant and fundamental ally of education and vice versa.
Nieves
In journalism school, no one ever taught me how to lead a team of journalists — let alone how to think about the business side of journalism. But I’ve come to realize that our passion for telling impactful stories shouldn’t blind us to the reality that, at the end of the month, the bills still need to be paid. To do what we love — telling stories — we need a solid business model that allows us to sustain the adventure.
Young colleagues today are incredibly resilient and naturally attuned to adapting to new technologies and the fast-changing trends in how content and information are produced and consumed. Whether it’s embracing AI tools this year, pivoting to social video two years ago, or mastering SEO before that, they’ve shown remarkable flexibility. However, I believe it’s equally important to familiarize ourselves with entrepreneurial tools and strategies to fund the kind of journalism we want to create.
Not everyone aspires to be an entrepreneur or a media executive, and that’s perfectly fine. But some will become the editors and team leaders of the future. For them, having the skills to manage creative teams and cultivate a mindset focused on creating journalistic products that address community needs will be crucial. Those tools and that spirit are essential for the future of journalism.
Photo by BoliviaInteligente on Unsplash.
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