IN CREATORS WE TRUST
Creators are winning the audiences institutions have lost by building direct relationships with fans online – no editor, no verification, just the power of likability. This replaces oversight from above with parasocial loyalty, where people trust a face that feels like family over any official stranger.
→ Journalists and academics are going independent, trading institutional backing for direct audience relationships and full creative control.
→ Science communicators, long-form explainers, and deep-dive podcasts are holding the audiences that legacy media couldn't keep.
→ YouTube has eaten the talk show format. Creators have taken over and handle celebrity interviews without the networks.
→ Misinformation is rising as unchecked trust leads audiences to believe creators without fact-checking, while platforms incentivize creators to post polarizing content.
Pockets of the Future
Explore where this signal is already showing up
Going solo: more journalists than ever are leaving newsrooms to build their own audiences on Substack, YouTube, and TikTok.
Source: Poynter: ‘Can journalists really make a living on Substack?,’ April 2026
News goes personal: for the first time, social and video platforms are the world’s top news source, and 27% of people get news from individual creators.
Source: NCS: ‘Reuters Institute releases 2026 Digital News Report,’ June 2026
Image: Reuters
Shared, but unchecked: 62% of creators surveyed by UNESCO admit they don’t verify information before sharing it with followers.
Source: Unesco: ‘Empowering Digital Content Creators as Trusted Information Relays,’ 2024
Late night creatorverse: as CBS ended Stephen Colbert’s Late Show in 2026, Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” was already outperforming The Tonight Show.
Source: The Wrap: ‘Creatorverse: Late Night Is Evolving Into Its Creator Era,’ May 2026
Image: Call Her Daddy Instagram