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The logo is on the live truck. The call letters are in the lower third. The masthead is at the top of the page. That was the trust anchor. You worked for it, and some of its credibility rubbed off on you.
That's over. The trust now lives in the byline, not the institution.
Here’s what kills me. For years, I ran newsrooms that handed off social media to the youngest person so the rest of us could get back to what we thought was the "real" work. I used to call it a distribution channel. I was dead wrong. It was never about the channel—it was always about the relationship.
Here are six journalists and one newsroom who got it before the rest of us. Some are veteran TV reporters with a personal brand bigger than the station. One walked out of the building wearing a bathrobe. What ties them together is how they work: they show their process, they talk with their audience, and they build trust slowly, story by story.
This is not a ranking. It is a set of examples. Watch what they do. Bring it to your newsroom. Start the conversation.
Jeremy Jojola — Denver
Tegna / 9NEWS
He spent twenty-seven years in Denver TV. Then he said what most journalists will not: burnout. Instead of quitting, Jojola took on a full-time 'mobile shorts' job at Tegna, reporting selfie-style from his car or the sidewalk, always with the documents in hand. His video about Adams County paying a man $80,000 after a wrongful arrest hit two million views on TikTok overnight. Same reporting. New format.
What stands out to me: for this trusted investigative reporter, this is not a side project. This is the job. No more “what’s your social plan for this investigation, or have you done a vertical video on this yet?”
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Mycah Hatfield — Houston
ABC13 / KTRK
She is the Chief Investigative Reporter at ABC13, and the audience follows her. Not just the '13 Investigates' brand. She has made her identity part of the station's accountability work, so people open the app to see her. The station supports her. They do not get in her way.
Watch: Customers fight back against a water company · An 84-year-old seeks a job to repay SNAP benefits
Ariane Datil — Philadelphia
The Philadelphia Inquirer — Social Video Host
I met Ariane in 2018 when she was working at KXTV in Sacramento. She was already there, pushing into new ground, bringing a social-media mindset to linearTV before most newsrooms even had a name for it. Now she is the Inquirer's first Social Video Host, a job they created for her. She turns enterprise journalism into video built for each platform. The bigger story is the institution moving to meet her, not just her social-native content creation.
Watch: Philly calls things whatever they want · A super competitive Philly primary race — and follow her stories on Instagram.
Hood Anchor Ye (Carldez Goodley) — Atlanta
Independent
He reports in pajamas and a robe. It looks like a joke, but it is not. The outfit is a clear rejection of the polished style that keeps people away from local TV. Underneath, he does the work: he goes to press conferences with other reporters, reports from inside the tape, and follows up on community tips. He is reaching Atlanta residents who have already stopped watching the news. Now, local media outlets are covering him.
Read: Atlanta Magazine: "Started reporting as a joke, now he's a trusted source" · Axios Atlanta on his press corps presence
Matt Shearer — Greater Boston
WBZ NewsRadio
He does run-and-gun iPhone reporting that makes people in Massachusetts feel seen. He talks to the people most of us walk past, and millions watch. The proof that it is a real connection, not just a stunt: in April, he sold out the Wilbur Theatre and brought his most viral interviewees onstage before a live Boston crowd. You do not fill a theater for a trend. You fill it because people trust whoever has the mic.
Katrina Pham — Chicago
Borderless Magazine
She is the audience engagement reporter at Borderless, covering immigrants and immigration policy in Chicago. She makes social-first content and turns features and investigations into vertical video built for the platform. No helicopter. No live truck. Just accountability journalism reaching the people who need it, in the format they actually use.
PublicSource — Pittsburgh
Nonprofit newsroom
This is not a person. It is a newsroom. PublicSource uses digital media to tell full hyper-local stories, not just to push links. Their 'Quick Source' series covers Pittsburgh government, housing, police oversight, and ICE activity near local schools. The audience has grown because the work meets people where they are. This is an independent newsroom, powered by public support, doing it because they care about the Pittsburgh region and believe everyone deserves news that reflects their neighbors.
Read these back-to-back, and the pattern is clear. The reporter's page wins over the station's. The nonprofit tries what the legacy outlet is still debating. The new job title comes only after the work has already been happening off the org chart for a year.
None of this needs a bigger budget. It needs you to decide your audience is worth talking to.
So what is stopping you? Who in your newsroom is already doing this, without a title, a budget, or your support?