Journalism, media and technology trends and predictions 2018

2019 will be the year when the regulation of platform companies starts to become real following growing concern about misinformation, privacy, and market power. Something once considered unthinkable has become ‘inevitable’, in the words of Apple boss Tim Cook – though the details will be messy, hard-fought, and take time to play out. Meanwhile the spread of false, misleading and extreme content will continue to undermine democracies around the world with polarising elections in India, Indonesia and Europe likely flashpoints. Journalism will continue to be hollowed out by structural shifts that have already led to significant falls in advertising revenue. Publishers are looking to subscriptions to make up the…