Influencer collaborations: The next phase

For much of the past year, we at API have been tackling the question of how traditional news organizations can work with digital creators and trusted messengers on the premise that they have a lot to learn from one another. Last year, for example, we facilitated an influencer collaboration program designed around nonpartisan election coverage.

Today we are announcing a new phase of that program with a cohort of 16 local newsrooms that will conduct collaborative experiments built around their journalism with third-party creators, then share ideas and solve problems in learning calls with their peers.

This is critical work given the size and growth of the creator economy. Axios reported recently on a study showing that the number of people with full-time equivalent jobs as digital creators in 2024 was 1.5 million in the U.S. — up from 200,000 in 2020. That is an increase of 7.5 times, write Kerry Flynn and Sara Fischer, detailing a study from the Interactive Advertising Bureau written in conjunction with Harvard Business School professor emeritus John Deighton.

Dick Tofel, a former publishing executive who is now a creator himself — he writes a Substack newsletter on the news business called “Second Rough Draft” — sees the rise of creators as a hopeful development, and he runs through some ways newsrooms can think about them. Among his suggestions: Look at who’s paying and what they’re paying for.

“The judgment about quality isn’t an objective one; it’s in the mind of the customer, and they are telling you something about what they value every time they choose to pay,” he said.

At API, our next round of investment in this realm is a continuation of our work in helping newsrooms remain sustainable through community engagement and relationships. As Sam Ragland, our vice president of Journalism Strategy, put it, “We know not everyone is ready for these kinds of partnerships, but we also know the creator economy is here to stay.”

News In Focus
Headlines, resources and events aligned with API’s four areas of focus.

Civic Discourse & Democracy

>> AP and others challenge an Indiana law barring reporters from witnessing executions (Associated Press) 

The Associated Press and four other media companies have filed suit in federal court challenging Indiana’s ban on reporters attending state-sanctioned executions, saying it violates the First Amendment’s guarantee that the public has “a qualified right of access to certain government proceedings.” The AP, writes John O’Connor, aims to attend every execution in the U.S. to “provide an accurate and unconstrained description for taxpayers.”

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Culture & Inclusion

>> Examining the editor pipeline (or lack thereof) (Medium, JSK Fellows)

Bettina Chang started her 2024 John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford with a question: Where do editors come from? She conducted a survey and got more than 100 responses. What they showed, she writes, was that people bring a lot of passion to their work, but there is also a lot of frustration and a lack of clarity about how success is measured, the training editors get (or don’t get) and how reporters become editors. She was left with a number of questions that need further exploration, she said.

>> Join us: API’s trauma-informed leadership workshop

Trauma-informed leadership recognizes and respects human experiences. Join API’s Sam Ragland Tuesday, May 27 at 1 p.m. ET for a discussion of how news leaders can re-order our skillset, emphasizing “soft” skills that will help them maintain critical perspectives and pivotal voices – those from journalists of color and women. Participants will contribute anonymously to a set of interactive slides and receive real-time coaching and context as their responses come in. Learn more and register here.

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Community Engagement & Trust

>> How we’re using AI (CJR)

In a collaboration with University of Southern California’s AI for Media and Storytelling Initiative, CJR asked a group of journalists across the industry how they use AI. Some saw its threat, some its promises. Many saw the need to handle the technology carefully, keeping humans in the loop. All, though, are “grappling thoughtfully with the technology’s power to shape their work, industry, and professional ethics.”

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Revenue & Resilience

>> Time to launch longevity franchise (Axios)

Time magazine is launching a new vertical named “Time Longevity” that will cover innovations “that address aging and the human lifespan,” the publication’s leaders told Axios. The topic is “of keen interest” to advertisers, CEO Jess Sibley told Sara Fischer, who wrote that the magazine has transformed its business “by positioning itself as a community platform for opinion leaders.”

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What else you need to know

⭐ The Texas Tribune has acquired the Austin Monitor (The Texas Tribune)

⛰️ National Trust for Local News announces partnership with Times Media Group (Colorado Community Media)

✍️ Society for Professional Journalists and PJP announce winners of the 2025 Stillwater Prison Journalism Awards (Prison Journalism Project)

📊 538’s former top numbers guy to launch data journalism site (Semafor)