Journalism will stop relying on exposure to hold the powerful accountable

"The old model imagined journalism as a set of headlights that froze wrongdoing in the glare of publicity. But today, the information environment is constantly illuminated with infinite content. When everything is bright, nothing stops. Nothing changes. The spotlight has become ambient light. For years, journalism relied on a simple chain of accountability: expose wrongdoing and someone would apply pressure. Public institutions, regulators, voters, shareholders, civic groups, or even social norms were expected to take the next step once the facts were visible."

"Work from Stanford's Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences on " Power to Truth: Journalism, Corporate Capture, and the Fight for Truth " describes how corporate power, political insulation, and hostile media ecosystems blunt even the strongest reporting. The actors that journalism tries to hold accountable now operate inside systems designed to absorb or deflect exposure rather than respond to it."

"In 2021, journalism lacked business infrastructure. In 2022, the field misunderstood what business it was in. In 2023, structural consolidation forced a reckoning with scale. In 2024, the industry faced a no-win scenario that required rewriting rules, not adjusting tactics. 2026 is the logical next step: journalism must abandon the idea that illumination drives accountability and begin changing the environment in which its work operates. A counteroffensive must emerge across these four fronts."

The old model treated journalism as headlights that froze wrongdoing in the public glare, but the information environment is now constantly illuminated with infinite content, so exposure rarely forces change. Accountability chains that once turned exposure into pressure have been weakened by corporate power, political insulation, and hostile media ecosystems that absorb or deflect reporting. A recent pattern shows that journalism faced business infrastructure gaps in 2021, misidentified its business in 2022, confronted consolidation in 2023, and encountered a no-win scenario in 2024 requiring rule changes. The next logical step is abandoning illumination as a tactic and reshaping the environments where journalism operates. A counteroffensive must act across financial, operational, and systemic fronts.

Read at Nieman Lab