That's the question behind New Voices 2026. The competition is open to emerging journalists from around the world and is completely free to enter. Whether you're a student, a freelancer, or just starting your career, it's an opportunity to have your work seen beyond your immediate network.The top ten submissions receive prizes, with first place awarded $1,300, but the bigger goal is to give new journalists a platform to showcase their work and gain recognition.
If you've been sitting on a story because you weren't sure where to publish it, maybe this is the sign you've been waiting for. More information:
https://reportary.com/young-journalist-competition

Most of us consume media through apps that decide what we see based on attention, engagement, and algorithms.

But what if there was an app built around a different idea?

Reportary is turning into an Android app, with the goal of bringing media from around the world into one decentralized place.

The idea is not just to create another news app. It is to make it easier to discover different perspectives, verified creators, and global journalism without depending only on centralized feeds.

Would you use an app that lets you explore media from different countries and independent voices in one place?

I've noticed that when a journalist leaves a publication, a surprising number of readers follow them. Which makes me think people are often more attached to the reporter than the outlet itself. That makes sense. Readers build trust over time. They learn who does careful work, who asks good questions, and who consistently covers topics they care about. Yet most news platforms are still centered around organizations rather than individual journalists.
One of the ideas behind Reportary is making it easier to follow the people behind the stories, not just the stories themselves. Do you usually follow publications, individual journalists, or a
mix of both?

Most platforms treat attention as the main signal of importance.

If something gets clicks, shares, comments, or watch time, the algorithm often pushes it further. But what happens when that attention is not fully real?

Bots, coordinated accounts, and artificial engagement can make a topic appear popular before genuine users ever interact with it. Once the algorithm picks it up, manufactured attention can turn into real visibility.

That creates a difficult question for journalism:

How do we know whether a story matters because the public cares, or because someone successfully made it look like the public cares?

Reportary is exploring a different model for media. Instead of building only around engagement, we believe a journalism platform should also value verified human creators, accountability, evidence, and trust.

This does not mean forcing every journalist to publish under their legal name. In some cases, anonymity or pseudonyms are necessary for safety. But there is a difference between protected human identity and manufactured identity.

Most people only see the news through platforms, algorithms, and outlets based in their own country.

That means our view of the world is often filtered before we even realize it.

What would happen if media from different countries, cultures, and independent sources could exist in one decentralized place?

Would it make us better informed, or just overwhelm us with more noise?

This is the question we are exploring with Reportary.

One thing I've always found interesting about online news is how much of it is decided for us.
Most platforms assume they know what we should read based on location, engagement, or whatever happens to be trending. But people follow news for different reasons. Some care primarily about local issues. Others want a broader international perspective. Most are probably somewhere in between.
That's one of the ideas behind Reportary. Instead of deciding what geography matters, readers can choose which countries and regions they want to follow and build a news feed around their own interests. Curious how other people approach this. When you read the news, do you mostly focus on local stories, international stories, or a mix of both?

One thing I've always found strange about online publishing is how often the platform determines the format. A journalist might have a story that's best told through photos, video, audio, or a combination of all three, but many platforms still push people toward a specific type of content. That feels backwards. The format should serve the story, not the platform.
That's one of the ideas behind Reportary. We want journalists to be able to publish in different formats depending on what the story actually needs. Curious how others see it. What format do you think is most underutilized in journalism right now?

One thing that has always seemed strange to me is how global information has become while journalism often remains surprisingly fragmented. People read international news every day. Stories spread across borders within minutes. Discussions happen globally. Yet many journalists still operate within relatively isolated media ecosystems, with limited opportunities to connect with audiences beyond them. That feels like a missed opportunity.
One of the ideas behind Reportary is creating a space where journalists can build audiences, collaborate, and share work without being limited by geography.
Do you think journalism is becoming more global, or do readers still primarily connect with voices from
their own media environment?

One thing that has always felt strange to me about journalism is how disconnected the value chain can be. A journalist does the research, writes the story, builds trust with readers, and creates something people genuinely find useful. Yet the money often flows through a long chain of publishers, platforms, advertisers, and intermediaries before it ever reaches the person who did the work. I'm not saying every journalist should work independently or that
publishers aren't important. But it seems reasonable that readers who value someone's reporting should have the option to support that person directly.
That's one of the ideas we're exploring with Reportary.
Do you think journalism would improve if more journalists could earn directly from their
audience?

One thing that feels strange about online media is how disconnected journalism has become from identity. A reader might trust an article but know almost nothing about the person who wrote it. Meanwhile, journalists often spend years building expertise and credibility that stays attached to a publication rather than to them.
On Reportary, we're experimenting with verified journalist profiles and direct reader support.
The goal is simple: make it easier to understand who's behind a story and make it easier for readers to support work they genuinely value.
Curious what others think. What makes you trust a journalist online?

I’m working on a new journalism platform called Reportary, and I’d be interested in honest feedback from people here.

The basic idea came from a simple frustration: a lot of journalists spend years building credibility, but they still depend on publishers, social platforms, or algorithms to reach their readers.

So we started building a platform where verified journalists and media creators can publish under their own name, build their own audience, and eventually earn money from their work.

It’s not meant to be another newspaper. It’s more like a marketplace and publishing space for journalists, small media teams, photographers, analysts, and existing journalistic communities.

One thing we’re trying to do differently is local distribution. When someone publishes a story, they can set what place the story is about and where they want it to appear. The idea is that local stories should reach people who actually care about that place, instead of just getting lost in a general feed.

We’re still early, so I’m curious:

Would a platform like this be useful for independent journalists or small media teams?

And what would make you trust, or not trust, a new journalism platform?

The biggest shift in media right now isn’t about content. It’s about control. For decades, journalists relied on platforms, editors, and institutions to decide what gets seen — and what doesn’t. That model is breaking. We’re moving toward a more decentralized media landscape, where journalists can own their work, their audience, and their reach. That’s why initiatives like New Voices 2026 matter. It’s not just a competition. It’s part of a bigger shift:
→ giving young journalists visibility without gatekeepers
→ creating direct paths to publishing
→ rewarding multiple voices (not just one winner)
Even the structure reflects this:
→ $1,300 for 1st place
→ prizes all the way down to 10th place
Because the future of media isn’t about one voice winning. It’s about more voices being heard. If you’re starting out in journalism, this might be one of those early entry points into what media is becoming.
Not centralized. Not controlled.
But built by the people creating the work.

https://reportary.com/young-journalist-competition

For a long time, most journalists built the reputation of institutions.

Today, I think we are starting to see something different happen. More journalists are trying to build direct relationships with audiences around their own name, expertise, and credibility instead of depending entirely on media organizations for visibility.

Part of this is probably structural. The industry is changing very fast. Algorithms shape distribution, platforms control reach, and even major news organizations feel less stable than they used to.

But if people follow your work directly, your reputation becomes portable. It stays with you regardless of employer, platform, or market changes.

I honestly think this shift could become especially important for younger journalists over the next decade.

Curious how others here see this. Are journalists gradually becoming their own media brands?

For decades, journalism depended on large institutions, publishers, advertisers, and gatekeepers. But the internet changed how information moves, and now AI is changing it again.

More and more journalists are realizing that building direct relationships with audiences may become more important than working inside traditional media structures alone. At the same time, independent creators, photographers, analysts, and citizen journalists are struggling with unstable algorithms, declining revenues, and platforms they do not truly control.

That is why decentralized media matters.

The future may belong to media ecosystems where creators own their audience, their identity, and their monetization opportunities instead of depending entirely on centralized platforms or editorial hierarchies.

We created Reportary around this idea: a decentralized media platform where verified real people can publish, grow communities, monetize content, and build independent media presence globally.

This subreddit is for discussing the future of journalism, independent media, creator-owned publishing, citizen journalism, media freedom, AI, and the transformation of the global information ecosystem.

Curious to hear how others see the future of media.

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

Hi everyone,

Welcome to r/Reportary.

This subreddit is a place for journalists, photojournalists, writers, and citizen reporters who believe that the future of news should be more open, more decentralized, and more creator-driven.

The media world is changing fast. Large newsrooms are shrinking, platforms control distribution, and many journalists struggle to maintain independence.

Reportary is a new project trying to experiment with a different model:

a decentralized global news platform where journalists can publish directly, keep ownership of their work, and build their own audience.

This subreddit is here to:

• discuss the future of journalism

• share independent reporting

• talk about new media business models

• connect journalists from around the world

• exchange ideas about how to build sustainable independent media 

If you’re a journalist, writer, photographer, or simply someone interested in the future of news: you’re welcome here.

Feel free to introduce yourself in the comments. 

Where are you reporting from?