Journalism now starts with a scroll: Creating visual complements to reporting

Journalism is no longer consumed in a single place or a single format. Stories unfold across platforms, screens and moments of attention throughout the day. For news publishers, the task is to ensure that their reporting travels effectively across the environments where audiences already spend time.”

Jennifer H. Cunningham, editor-in-chief, Newsweek

News audiences today rarely encounter journalism in a single format. A reader may see a short clip on Instagram, hear a headline reference on YouTube, search for additional context, and only then land on a publisher’s site to read a full story. News consumption has become layered and mobile-first, shaped by platforms that prioritize visual content and rapid discovery. For publishers, this raises a strategic question: How should video fit into serious journalism?

The answer is increasingly clear: Video has become a fundamental layer of modern storytelling.

A decade ago, many publishers treated video as a distribution strategy. Newsrooms were encouraged to pivot to video in pursuit of platform traffic, often without integrating it meaningfully into the reporting process. That experiment largely failed because the format was driven by algorithms rather than editorial logic.

Today, the dynamic is different. A new generation of journalists has grown up producing and consuming multimedia content. Recording interviews on camera, capturing visual context, and producing short-form clips for mobile audiences are now natural extensions of reporting itself.

Short-form video allows journalists to surface a key moment from an interview, explain a complex development quickly, or introduce a deeper investigation in a format that audiences can encounter in the flow of their daily media consumption.

Meeting audiences where they are

Many readers now discover news through feeds rather than homepages, and they often encounter journalism in brief visual fragments before deciding whether to engage more deeply. A 30-second video can function as an entry point. It offers a quick explanation, a compelling moment, or a clear takeaway that invites viewers to explore the full reporting behind it.

This layered approach reflects the realities of how people now consume information. Time is scarce, attention is fragmented, and audiences move quickly between platforms. Publishers that ignore video risk becoming invisible in those environments.

Despite this dynamic, long-form analysis, investigative work and deep contextual journalism remain essential to public understanding. Video works best when it complements that reporting. A short clip can highlight the most revealing quote from an interview. A brief explainer can clarify the stakes of a breaking development. A visual segment can bring audiences closer to a story unfolding in real time.

Used thoughtfully, video becomes a bridge between fast moving digital discovery and deeper journalism.

As publishers expand into new formats, the most important challenge is maintaining editorial integrity. In a media environment saturated with commentary, speculation and algorithmic amplification, audiences look for signals of credibility. Consistency of tone, clarity of reporting and recognizable editorial standards matter more than ever.

Video should reflect the same reporting discipline and editorial values that define a publication’s written journalism. When those standards carry across formats, audiences experience a unified editorial voice regardless of where they encounter a story.

Journalism is no longer consumed in a single place or a single format. Stories unfold across platforms, screens and moments of attention throughout the day. For news publishers, the task is to ensure that their reporting travels effectively across the environments where audiences already spend time.

Video is now one of the most powerful tools for doing that. When integrated thoughtfully into the reporting process, it allows journalism to reach audiences earlier in the discovery cycle, engage them visually and guide them toward deeper understanding.

An award-winning investigative journalist and newsroom leader, Jennifer H. Cunningham is Newsweek’s editor-in-chief. Previously editor-in-chief of Business Insider’s News Division, she led global teams across the U.S., U.K. and Singapore. She began her career as a local reporter in New Jersey before rising at the New York Daily News. She is the immediate past president of the Newswomen’s Club of New York, where she continues to volunteer in support of women in journalism.