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State of storytelling in 2026

If you think this year has been a lot just wait for 2026. And new jobs, a conversation about trust, predictions and more.

State of storytelling in 2026

👋 Hello hello hello Michael, Megan, George, Danielle, Amanda, Julia, and Nicholas. I'm so glad you're here at Future Community. Hit reply and let me know how you found the newsletter and what you're looking for here.

This gif may have well been a live shot from my Friday afternoon as I tried to meet deadlines, take a couple calls, get the dog walked and write this email (that part failed). Can anyone relate?

Part of the exhaustion comes from working in and around people and organizations highly impacted by political chaos of the past 12 months (heck, ten years?). All the "year in review" pieces and "what lies ahead" stories are stacking up on the pile. It's a lot.

I hope you can take a few days (more?!) to recover, rest, and refresh. And I know that for many that's an unattainable luxury. I see you.

A lot to talk about today but first...a job 👇

🗳️
Want to change American politics? Of course you do.

End Citizens United is hiring a Senior Political Director to direct political work with House, Senate and non-federal candidates and ballot initiatives. The role is based in Washington, DC, and offers a starting salary of $125,000 to $145,000.

Learn more and apply.

The state of storytelling in 2026

I think next year you're going to hear a lot about storytelling as a project, work, and a vocation with titles and teams. Maybe you've seen the recent Wall Street Journal piece about companies hiring storytellers. Or heard how companies like Notion are replacing communications departments with storytelling teams.

There are at least two factors at play:

  1. Mainstream journalism is no longer a reliable corporate (or nonprofit) public relations outlet. Local news is smaller. National news is highly politicized. "News" isn't much trusted (neither are companies or nonprofits).

    ⚠️ Side effect alert ⚠️
    Loads of skilled storytellers are on the market as editorial, reporting and other traditional journalism roles go away. These are people trained to tell a story, do the research, run an interview, and deliver on deadline. These are attributes long missing from or disregarded as necessary in many "communications" departments. This provides a lot of skilled storytelling labor, much of it cheaper than ever unfortunately.
  2. The attention of news and story consumers has moved away from one or two or three primary sources and onto hundreds, even thousands, of dispersed voices, outlets, writers, reporters, creators, and newsletter writers. Even the big players (New York Times, for example) are creating or more likely hiring brand names to capture their followers. It may give you the ick but there are people paying for the times just to read Ezra Klein, David Brooks, or any number of other individuals.

Meanwhile, people's need for clarity, information, and sensemaking is greater than ever. Noise is all around us. Security and sensibility is hard to find. So we seek voices we can trust. Anywhere we can find them. And we have more choices than ever.

This leaves organizations, companies, candidates and politicians looking to reach people through more channels, with the help of more voices and, yes, more stories.

Much of this is happening on spaces like TikTok, YouTube and Instagram as influencers, more or less regular folks, and even companies and nonprofits create videos to speak directly to people. Gone are the filters of journalists, TV news, or potentially more problematic, things like fact checking.

A question: are we going for reach or trust with storytelling? There's a difference worth parsing.

I wrote about this a bit earlier this week in What's the Storytelling?

What’s the storytelling?
Why storytelling for nonprofits starts with connection, depth, and understanding. Not reach or scale.
Bright+3Ted Fickes

Bright Ideas

Want more on storytelling and trust? Head over to Volts where David Roberts talks to political scientist Samuel Bagg in The cure for misinformation is not more information or smarter news consumers.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released a wide-ranging look at community imagination: The Futures We Create: Democratizing the Imagination of the Future.

Winning the Reality War against Fascism and Ecological Collapse: Lessons from the Right’s Narrative Strategy by Patrick Reinsborough is one of several great reads on narrative in the Narrative Power Today for a Radical Tomorrow series curated by The Forge.

NiemanLab's Predictions for Journalism in 2026 are out. It's worth a deep dive for anyone working in and around content strategy, storytelling, or social media. A few highlights, imho:

There's so much richness in here. It's a good sign for the journalism community.

Someone noted that many of the Nieman Lab posts are more ambitious hopes for 2026 rather than predictions. This seems true. And that's ok.

Events and Trainings!

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Future Community Jobs

These are the latest links. Check out the full job list here.

Hiring? Consider shipping a featured job out into this amazing community. Learn more here or just reach out on email.

🌐
Logos is looking for a Campaign Director. This is a remote (global) role offering a salary of $80,000 to $150,000+ USD. Find out more.

This role isn’t about “marketing.” It’s about helping build a global, volunteer-powered movement that can stand against corruption and authoritarianism. If you want to be part of rewriting how civil society works, this is your call to action.

🗞️ Audience, content, journalism and news roles

🗣️ Communications

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Interested in featuring your open role on Future Community? This is how you do it.

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💰 Fundraising and Development

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I knew Joe Ely mostly through the songs of the Flatlanders. But he has decades of music, most of which may not be what you'd expect if you don't know the rock country of west Texas. Joe passed away last week. Thought I'd give you a piece from his last album released earlier this year. It's the Woody Guthrie song Deportee.

Joe Ely and Ryan Bingham cover Woody Guthrie's song Deportee

Future Community is a product of Ted Fickes and Bright+3. Reply or visit Bright+3 to get in touch and learn more about our work. It's fabulous.

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