🔶 News Alchemists #48: We finally understand that journalism is about the journey, not the destination.

Ask a person – or an LLM for that matter – what the purpose of journalism is, and the answer you're most likely to get is: to inform the public.

That’s at the same time a perfectly legitimate answer and the most damaging misconception about our profession. 

Of course, providing people with accurate and timely information about what’s happening in the world, in their country and in their community is a fundamental role that journalism plays in society.

But too often we stop there, and that’s when the damage happens. 

Because in a world where most people don’t trust journalism organisations, and don’t even think of paying for the information we are so proud to serve to them, such a narrow understanding of our purpose will only make things worse. Or at the very least, it won’t make them any better.

You can provide the most amazing information, but if no one sees it because they don’t trust you, what’s that for?

Healing the relationship with the public requires more from us. It requires us to create less and curate more; to talk with people rather than at them; to spend more time listening, convening, and facilitating conversations, and less time writing and recording. 

If information is the destination of the journey, I believe 2026 is the year when we will finally care for the journey itself, and the people who share it with us, just as much.

For the last time in this 2025... Hello and welcome back to the News Alchemists newsletter!

That mini essay I opened with is the prediction for 2026 that I wrote for JournalismUK. "A welcome dose of optimism" was the response of the JournalismUK team when they first read it. And that's exactly how I feel as I write to you today.

I am hopeful because it seems to me that the people-centric approach to journalism that we've been exploring together in this newsletter is taking hold across the industry.

Redefining journalism as a service, focusing on people's needs, aiming for impact and change, establishing direct connections with the people we aim to serve... from niche ideas these are slowly moving to the center of all industry conversations.

I see it in the predictions for the new year that are being published left and right; in the number of proposals I've been invited to join for conferences happening next year; in the engagement with initiatives such as JR3 that pose hard questions about the purpose of what we do; in the fact that not once since I started writing this newsletter I struggled to find enough links that were worth sharing with you.

We are at a pivotal moment, and for once not because we are panicking about, or reacting to, external stressors such as social media algorithms, AI, and so on, but because we are intentionally slowing down and deciding that it's time to change.

Because we are – quoting JR3 – rethinking what journalism should be, recentering it on the people it exists for, and reimagining what journalism can be.

As the end of the year approaches, my hope is that this newsletter has helped you feel as hopeful as I do – or at least a little more hopeful than you did before you subscribed.

If that's the case, and you want News Alchemists to continue providing you with hope and examples of sustainable people-centric journalism, consider donating now:

Donations alone won't make this a sustainable project. (I'm working on other ways to get there.) And that's why I didn't set a monetary goal for this campaign.

It doesn't matter how much you donate. This is about figuring out if there are readers who value News Alchemists enough to decide to support it with their hard-earned cash to justify the investment I'm making in it, and give me the confidence to keep growing it in 2026.

If you are one of them, click here to show your support.

(In case you want to donate but can't decide how much would be the right amount: so far, donations range from £10 to £100, and the average donation is £36.  Enormous gratitude once again to the early supporters 🫶)

Have a joyful and restful end to the year, and see you next week in 2026!

No seven links today, but you can find almost 300 of them in the News Alchemists Database 👇