Hinterland Diary: The rise of individual voices

In 2020, opportunity knocks for the new intellectuals? . . .

... whatever erosion takes place [in the newspaper industry] -- be it the physical paper, classified ads, editors or equity of old news brands -- I believe the importance of the individual reporter, or voice, will inversely rise. And it all comes down to trust and accessibility ...

... I believe if we are in a long-term period of eroding trust in what's big and institutional, then we're bound to enter a period of intense consciousness and value over what's small. What's small is accessible, tangible and compatible with "us people."

When it comes to consuming what's newsworthy, the individual reporter and people brands will become more important ...

I believe the investments and scale that big news brands achieve will remain important in 2020. However, they will need to reconcile with the eventual, dominant attribute we now call small.

Regardless, this period will bring tremendous opportunity for entrepreneurial, independent, innovative thinkers to shape what does become the news business. The big's monopoly on the ability to shape the future of the news business -- or push the status quo -- is declining rapidly.

From "The Future of News Is Small" by Max Kalehoff, VP of marketing for Nielson BuzzMetrics, a company that works with consumer-generated media. He wrote this for Media Post's "Online Spin."