It’s Time To Reinvent Traditional News

For Gen Z, the evening news isn’t CNN; it’s TikTok. Headlines are no longer found on three-page articles, but rather short, vertical videos. This highlights a major issue news companies are facing—traditional news articles and broadcasts are losing their grip on younger generations. For today’s youth, watching or reading the news seems more like a chore than an intellectual activity. TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube have quickly become the forefront for young people to get their news, while independent newsletters like Substack have begun stealing audiences away from legacy media. This, coupled with the decreasing trust in mainstream sources, leaves news companies in a tricky position: adapt or collapse.  

For the first time in history, social media has displaced television as the top way Americans get news. The amount of people who are accessing news via social media and video networks in the United States (54 percent) has overtaken both TV news (50 percent) and news websites/apps (48 percent) for the first time. This is further exemplified by the fact that 39 percent of young adults below the age of 30 regularly get news from influencers, and half of TikTok users regularly get news from the platform. However, remarkably few of these young adults follow institutional news companies. This trend is largely due to platforms like TikTok having the ability to push content that feels personal, unbiased, and is conveyed in a story-like manner, which is more compelling to younger audiences. 

Independent publications like Substack are thriving for the same reasons. Substack is a platform that is reshaping journalism and news by blending the personalization and interactivity of social media with educational blogging and articles. In fact, 82 percent of the platform’s 250 highest revenue writers use audio and video content to engage audiences. Writers on Substack are able to build direct relationships with the readers and attract writers who are looking to break free from legacy media’s editorial oversight, brand guidelines, and company priorities and biases that would otherwise often alter their main message. Additionally, Substack provides writers with financial authority, with the company surpassing five million paid subscribers in early 2025. This subscription-based model aligns with valuing trust over revenue through viral traffic. As a result, there are countless writers on the platform that are able to reach audiences that see their content as transparent, unique, and, most importantly, trustworthy. 

Meanwhile, trust in conventional journalism is at an astounding low. Only 31 percent of Americans say that they have a “great deal” or “fair amount" of confidence in the media to report accurate news. The reasons for this collapse can largely be traced back to corporate investments and buy-outs in the media, large news scandals, and the relentless attacks of so-called “fake news” articles. For example, the hedge fund Alden Global Capital is infamous for buying out local newspapers, then cutting staff to make profits, causing the newspapers to become unable to properly report current events in their communities. Fox News anchor Bret Baier even admitted that Donald Trump’s continuous use of the word “fake news” during his two presidencies has further entrenched distrust of mainstream media outlets. Media consolidation is also a major issue, as large companies like Disney, Warner Bros Discovery, and Comcast own much of the news industry, reinforcing the perception that news coverage is more for monetary gain and shareholders than truthfulness. 

Countless media scandals have similarly entrenched distrust in the news. For instance, CNN has been largely accused by its employees and critics of prioritizing ratings and viewership over accuracy after sharp declines in audiences following the elections. Furthermore, Fox News’s major $787.5 million Dominion settlement revealed internal communications from news anchors admitting to spreading misinformation about the legitimacy of the 2020 elections to maintain viewership. This scandal in particular was damaging to legacy media because it confirmed that many news companies were prioritizing profits over the truth.  

This decline of traditional news marks a societal problem. A proper democracy requires that the press is both trusted and used effectively. Although social media can be a way for news to become accessible and quick, misinformation thrives on social media because virality and sensationalism often come before the facts, making social media becoming a news source for many youth a bad sign. MIT researchers found that fake news spreads 10 times faster than real reporting on platforms like Twitter, mainly because humans are drawn to the novelty of fake news and therefore feel it’s more shareable. Legacy media, despite its flaws and biases, offers layers of fact-checking and professional oversight that other, more informal channels like social media may lack. In short, news via social media creators is engaging, which keeps youth watching, but can often be falsely engineered to value virality over the truth. Newsroom staffing is shrinking rapidly too, with employee numbers dropping by 51 percent between 2008 and 2019 (from about 71,000 workers to 35,000), mainly due to economic pressures and corporate buyouts that cut staff. This leads to less coverage of local events and less scrutiny into important institutions such as statehouses and city halls, allowing for more scandals to go unreported. Additionally, algorithm-based content, especially news, causes people to get stuck in “echo chambers” of their own beliefs rather than being exposed to contrary ideas. This is one of the leading problems behind immense division between fellow Americans in politics and social standards.

News companies must rethink how they operate and where their priorities lie in order to remain relevant in a rapidly changing industry. They need to fully embrace digital content by prioritizing platforms such as social media, newsletters, and podcasts to meet their younger audiences where they already are and deliver news in a more informal way, similar to how influencers do. Many news companies, such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, have begun creating content on social media and exploring different platforms, which shows that they are making an effort to diversify and connect to audiences. One lesson these platforms can learn from Substack is how to engage audiences with the writers rather than the institution and create more author-branded content, such as newsletters, so that readers can develop loyalty to the writers and then to the company. Above all, legacy media have to regain the trust of the public, prioritize transparency, increase their credibility, and express multiple perspectives on issues. One way news sites can increase transparency is by including “How we reported this” sections in their articles, either at the bottom or in a sidebar. Many nonprofits and investigative journalism sites currently use this feature to build trust in their reporting, as it signals accountability and honesty. Diverse perspectives are also important because offering a wider range of perspectives and reporting, instead of having distinct “liberal” or “conservative” media like CNN or Fox News, can help bring in more audiences and rebuild trust in the media. 

The slow collapse of traditional news is real, but not the end of the road. Many news companies are branching out into social media, podcasting, and implementing diverse user experiences such as daily games. Legacy media must realize that clinging to the prestige of the past will not capture the attention of the present. We cannot simply revert to the pre-digital era of news, but we can adapt its oversight standards and accountability to today’s platforms. Publications like Substack and social media shouldn’t be the enemy, but rather a way to see what the youth are interested in. However, the choice is with the news companies now: Will they rise to dominate the new age, or be dethroned by the evolving media platforms?