IN/LAB brings creators and editorial media together

IN/LAB co-hosted a Schibsted breakfast seminar that focused on what role news creators play in the media ecosystem, and how newsrooms should approach these actors. We shared findings from our recent project News Creators & Young Audiences, and brought creators and editorial media together to talk about what could come next.

The presenters and panelists from the seminar. From left: Belenn Rebecka Bekele, Matilda Lundberg, Molly Grönlund Müller, Amanda Hällsten, Jakob Wagner, Martin Schori, Anna Sööder, Pim Mountain and Danny Lam. The starting point is a shift that is already well underway. According to Internetstiftelsen, 35% of Swedes follow a person online to keep up with news about society. Newsrooms have noticed: in a global survey from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, 70% of publishers said they worry that creators are taking time and attention away from editorial news. To set the scene, IN/LAB shared four selected findings from our report, News Creators & Young Audiences. The insights covered how young people increasingly discover the news through creators rather than editorial media, how trust is becoming personal and shifting from brands to individuals, how creators make heavy news easier to take in both intellectually and emotionally, and how more and more of the public conversation now happens in creators’ comment sections and replies.

News is discovered through creators

Many young people now meet the news, including breaking news, through creators first. That shapes not only how a story is told, but which topics feel relevant and what even counts as news. Editorial media should no longer be seen as a natural starting point in young people’s news journeys. 

Trust is becoming personal

Trust is shifting from media brands to individual people. As one 17-year-old put it: “you listen to the influencers you follow. If they say it’s credible, then it’s credible.” In a feed where news, politics and lifestyle blur together, the person is the brand.

Creators make the news easier to take in

Young people value creators for making heavy news understandable, both intellectually and emotionally. By sharing their own reactions, creators make people feel less alone in what they feel. “I really miss emotions in traditional media — it feels numbing,” one 21-year-old told us.

The conversation is happening in the comments

Public debate about the news increasingly lives in creators’ comment sections, replies and live streams, where it feels two-way and ongoing. “There’s no real space to discuss at a news site,” one participant said. “With creators, you reply, and they reply back.”

The moderator of the panel Anna Sööder (Public Policy Manager, Schibsted)

The presentation was followed by two panels. In the first panel, Danny Lam (news creator behind TNKVRT), Pim Mountain (creator), and Amanda Hällsten (journalist at Aftonbladet) shared how they build trust and relationships with young audiences in their respective channels. Our editorial media voices — Matilda Lundberg (team leader and social media/video editor at Svenska Dagbladet), Martin Schori (co-founder at Hint), and Jakob Wagner (editorial development manager at Expressen) — reflected on what editorial media can learn from creators, and where their responsibility lies to meet the needs of young audiences.

The discussion centered on a few core topics. In the first panel, creators and journalists talked about personality, trust and the responsibility that comes with influence. They also looked at how creators and editorial media differ when news travels through people rather than brands, and what it takes to stay relevant to young audiences.

In the second panel, the focus shifted to the wider industry. The group discussed how media should respond to creators' growing influence, what journalism can learn from the creator ecosystem, and whether editorial media needs to become more personal and relationship-driven. They also weighed the risks and opportunities of working with creators and building profiles of their own, without compromising credibility and journalistic integrity.

We want to thank the panelists and moderators for the engaging and constructive discussions! 

Do you have questions about this work? Please contact Belenn Bekele, belenn.bekele@schibsted.com