The Most Trusted Voices in Media Today Aren't Journalists,They're Former Accountants, Teachers, and Engineers

What if I told you the most trusted voices in media today aren’t journalists, they’re former accountants, teachers, and engineers who started newsletters?

According to recent data, 47% of Gen Z and Millennials have paid independent creators directly, while only 22% have paid traditional news organisations.

I’ve seen this shift from both sides!!

I used to investigate corruption as a news reporter. Now, I help lawyers, investors, and CEOs build personal brands on platforms like Substack and LinkedIn, and I’ve ghostwritten for some of the biggest creators on the internet.

The real reason a “random creator” beats a prestigious institution isn’t about who’s more qualified, it’s about who’s accessible & accountable

IMO this all started with the decline of the old media business model when newspaper ad revenue dropped, newsrooms across the world were in a state of panic.

Talented journos were laid off or forced to optimise for clicks rather than pursue investigative reporting. The economic pressure meant chasing viral content and shallow engagement over depth.

Many of today’s successful newsletter writers are former journo's who left broken institutions behind. They took their skills and applied them to a direct-pay model, one that allowed them to prioritise readers rather than appease advertisers they’d never meet.

And while it’s deffo not all perfect most of them seem happier.

Media decentralisation

In fact, a growing number are just regular people with strong opinions & useful insight, the accountant next door, the software engineer with niche expertise, the teacher who breaks down complex issues in plain English.

Platforms like Substack and Beehiive have basically decentralised the media industry even further after OGs like Medium allowing anyone with something valuable to say to get involved

But the question still remains They are these creators more trusted and what, if anything, can traditional media do about it?

Older generations were taught to associate trust with credentials & objectivity but younger audiences value transparency and relatability

Creators tend to win in this because a lot of them share openly

Traditional media outlets aren’t untrustworthy, far from it!! Many of my peers in journalism are doing incredible work. They're bound by competing internal stakeholders, legal and regulatory caution.

Even when something clearly needs to be called out, editorial teams often can’t say it outright, either because of the need to appear “objective” or because doing so would upset advertisers

I believe we’re going to see more of a hybrid approach, particularly in the UK, the US is already ahead as some some publications like The Atlantic & Vox experimenting with creator-like formats.

We still need trad journalism because of fact-checked reporting and editorial standards but we also need something else people who are reachable.

The future of trust in media won’t be owned by institutions or creators, it’ll be hybrid