Newsrooms Turning to Video To Attract Consumers

News publishers are re-engineering their newsrooms to turn reporters and editors into on-camera video correspondents and creators, as video becomes a core editorial format rather than a side project.

Driven by shifting audience habits—where people increasingly discover and consume news via social platforms, video apps, and AI search—publishers are investing in new training and support systems to help journalists build on-camera skills and personal brands.

At The New York Times, the effort now has a dedicated leader. In March, the Times hired Tom Denison as video training editor. His full-time role is to coach reporters and editors and find ways to extend their reporting into video, according to a staff memo from Charlotte Greensit, managing editor of visuals.

“With this dedicated resource, we’ll make our training more systematic and even better aligned with video strategy, desk priorities and the newsroom’s evolving needs,” Greensit wrote. She noted that the most effective training happens in small groups and one-on-one sessions.

Reporter-led video output at the Times doubled year-over-year in Q1 2026, CEO Meredith Kopit-Levien said on a recent earnings call.

The Wall Street Journal has created the WSJ Talent Lab, a dedicated team focused on “upskilling” journalists for video and other audience-facing formats. Taneth Evans, head of digital at WSJ, said the lab teaches reporters to shoot vertical video, appear on podcasts, and write newsletters — all aimed at increasing individual journalists’ visibility to subscribers. Devin Smith, who previously launched the first creator network at USA Today’s sports media group, directs the lab.

These initiatives reflect a broader industry shift. Some publishers are building formal “talent labs” with structured coaching, while others are adopting looser approaches by simply putting more journalists in front of cameras and learning through iteration.

DigiDay.com reports the push is urgent, according to the Reuters Institute’s 2026 Digital News Report. Audiences now get more news from social media and video platforms than from publishers’ own websites or apps. The report also found that 27% of people globally get news weekly from news-focused creators or influencers, and 46% from creators of any type. As “news creators” gain prominence, publishers are competing directly with individual personalities rather than relying solely on institutional mastheads.