Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
Jun 22, 2026 · 20 min · 12 segments
We explore the role of influencers and creators in different news ecosystems. n this episode of Future of Journalism, we draw on findings from the Digital News Report 2026 to explore the role of…
Nick NewmanGuest
Mitali MukherjeeHostNo entities detected.
In the report and also in the survey, we define news creators as individuals or groups of individuals that create and distribute content primarily via social and video networks, but also other online platforms like Substack, for example.
I think the other aspect is news creators are also independent from institutions.
So they're not part of an organization, for example, that might have some kind of hidden motive.
And I think in terms of what distinguishes them from journalists, there's obviously a bit of an overlap, right? A lot of the best known creators, the most mentioned ones are former journalists, people like Piers Morgan, Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson, for example, in the United States.
But then there are also a lot of hybrid figures we find from traditional media who are actually sort of freelancers.
They run their own podcasts and newsletters, but they also work for traditional media.
People like Owen Jones, for example, in the UK, who's also a columnist for The Guardian.
And then finally, there are younger creators who behave like journalists in many ways.
They do sort of explanatory journalism, many of them, but they haven't had any formal training.
And in fact, they prefer to be known as creators, even though they're doing journalistic things.
In the report and also in the survey, we define news creators as individuals or groups of individuals that create and distribute content primarily via social and video networks, but also other online platforms like Substack, for example.
I think the other aspect is news creators are also independent from institutions.
So they're not part of an organization, for example, that might have some kind of hidden motive.
And I think in terms of what distinguishes them from journalists, there's obviously a bit of an overlap, right? A lot of the best known creators, the most mentioned ones are former journalists, people like Piers Morgan, Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson, for example, in the United States.
But then there are also a lot of hybrid figures we find from traditional media who are actually sort of freelancers.
They run their own podcasts and newsletters, but they also work for traditional media.
People like Owen Jones, for example, in the UK, who's also a columnist for The Guardian.
And then finally, there are younger creators who behave like journalists in many ways.
They do sort of explanatory journalism, many of them, but they haven't had any formal training.
And in fact, they prefer to be known as creators, even though they're doing journalistic things.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.