Robb Montgomery https://robbmontgomery.com/ Robb Montgomery is the CEO and founder of Visual Editors. Fri, 15 May 2026 23:30:38 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://i0.wp.com/robbmontgomery.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/cropped-Robb-Mug-Cliffs-1080-1.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Robb Montgomery https://robbmontgomery.com/ 32 32 149723754 The $314 Billion Pivot: Why Creator Journalism is the New Mainstream https://robbmontgomery.com/creator-journalism-new-mainstream-2026/ Fri, 15 May 2026 23:30:36 +0000 https://robbmontgomery.com/?p=6401 For years, the legacy news industry treated the “creator economy” as a side hustle for influencers. Today, that side hustle is a $314 billion global ecosystem—and it is actively dismantling traditional media distribution. In a recent address, former BBC News executive Deborah Turness called the rise of creator journalism “the most disruptive shift the news […]

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]]> 6401 The Creator Economy’s Ownership Problem: Protect Your IP from AI https://robbmontgomery.com/creator-economy-ownership-problem-ai-ip-defense/ Mon, 11 May 2026 18:05:38 +0000 https://robbmontgomery.com/?p=6396 he creator economy promises independence, but building your journalism on rented land leaves your intellectual property vulnerable to AI data scrapers. Discover the five-step blueprint to protect your content, secure your direct audience, and master creator economy ownership before the platforms replace you.

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]]> 6396 How Johnny Harris Built a 7.5M Subscriber Newsroom Without Selling Out https://robbmontgomery.com/how-johnny-harris-built-a-7-5m-subscriber-newsroom-without-selling-out/ Wed, 06 May 2026 00:32:19 +0000 https://robbmontgomery.com/?p=6380 For decades, the journalism industry operated under a fatal assumption: the internet killed long-form reporting. We were told that digital audiences possessed the attention spans of gnats, and that survival required pivoting to cheap, viral, short-form content. Johnny Harris proved them wrong. With over 7.5 million YouTube subscribers, the former Vox producer has built an […]

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]]> 6380 When your glasses have a camera, who else gets to watch? https://robbmontgomery.com/meta-glasses-privacy/ Wed, 22 Apr 2026 23:00:47 +0000 https://robbmontgomery.com/?p=6373 HOLLYWOOD: I just tried on the $500 Ray-Ban Meta glasses at the Meta Lab store on Melrose, and I walked out thinking less about the gadget and more about what it says about where media is heading. A recent investigation by Swedish journalists at Svenska Dagbladet reported that Meta’s smart-glasses content could be reviewed by […]

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]]> 6373 MOJO workshop at BEA Las Vegas https://robbmontgomery.com/mobile-journalism-workshop-resources/ Fri, 17 Apr 2026 19:08:37 +0000 https://robbmontgomery.com/?p=6365 Mobile Journalism workshop at the Broadcast Education Association By Robb Montgomery Here are the primary resources, frameworks, and digital repositories shared during our Saturday workshop exploring “The Journalist as Cultural Steward: Kinetic Ethnography and Mobile Storytelling”. The Trust Graph A 19 year longitudinal visual ethnography and 40,000 word academic monograph documenting the structural collapse of […]

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]]> 6365 The Trust Graph – Journalism’s New Era https://robbmontgomery.com/the-trust-graph/ Wed, 15 Apr 2026 23:59:18 +0000 https://robbmontgomery.com/?p=6361 The Trust Graph: An Ethnography of Journalism Rituals and Verification in the Age of AI and News Creators Published by Visual Editors, NFP ISBN: 978-0-9903502-4-8. LCCN: 2026906983. In an information ecosystem flooded with zero-cost synthetic content, the traditional newsroom has collapsed. The Trust Graph delivers a definitive 19-year longitudinal visual ethnography documenting this profound metamorphosis. […]

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]]> 6361 The Los Angeles Residency: Bringing the 2026 Mobile Journalism Framework to the USA https://robbmontgomery.com/robb-in-los-angeles/ Wed, 25 Feb 2026 14:19:31 +0000 https://robbmontgomery.com/?p=6347 After another incredible year of teaching at the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS), I am packing up my mobile kits and heading to the West Coast. From April through June 2026, I will be based in Los Angeles. This three-month residency is a unique window for me to reconnect with U.S.-based newsrooms, journalism programs, […]

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]]> 6347 News Creator Economy 2026: Dubai Summit Insights + Mobile Journalism Workshops https://robbmontgomery.com/news-creator-economy-mobile-journalism-workshops-sprint/ Sun, 25 Jan 2026 16:59:00 +0000 https://robbmontgomery.com/?p=6325 I am still buzzing from the energy of the 1 Billion Followers Summit in Dubai. The shift is no longer a prediction; it is our reality. The “industrial-age’ newsroom is being challenged by agile, niche, and highly-trusted News Creators. If you are ready to lead this transition in your newsroom or classroom, let’s talk. I […]

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]]> 6325 We Didn’t Build the Internet for Bots. Can Berlin’s Wedium Undo Social Media’s Original Sin? https://robbmontgomery.com/wedium-berlin-creator-economy/ Sun, 25 Jan 2026 15:29:28 +0000 https://robbmontgomery.com/?p=6319 I’ve been thinking about the Original Sin of social media lately. A new project spinning up here in Berlin has me revisiting why I built Visual Editors back in 2004—the first social network for visual journalists. Back then, we were idealists who believed connecting pros in a digital Commons would naturally create signal over noise. […]

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]]> 6319 News Creator Journalism in 2026: What Educators Need to Know https://robbmontgomery.com/news-creator-research-journalism-sprint-report/ Sun, 25 Jan 2026 11:50:00 +0000 https://robbmontgomery.com/?p=6287 What I’m Learning as a journalism creator professor I’ve been reflecting on how creator journalism is moving from experiment to mainstream—one in three journalists now build independent practices.  “Report: The Rise of the Creator-Journalist,” published by the Video Consortium in collaboration with Project C and Fordham University is out. This study examines how independent video […]

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