6 Ways to Fix Maldivian Journalism in 2026
We can't just report the change; we have to be the change. Here are 6 ways our industry needs to evolve this year.
We are already a few weeks into 2026, and if there is one thing I’ve learned from 15 years of my media experience, it’s that the old ways of doing things are expiring faster than ever.
The days of just publishing a press release and calling it journalism are over. Our audience is smarter, faster, and frankly, a little bored with the standard headlines. As we navigate this year, I’ve been thinking a lot about where we need to go, not just to survive as businesses, but to matter as an institution.
Here are six shifts I believe the Maldives media industry needs to make right now.
1. Less Politics, More People
We spend too much energy chasing politicians and not enough time listening to the people who vote for them. In 2026, our content needs to become radically people-centric.
I’m talking about deep dives into social issues like housing struggles, the cost of living, the mental health crisis, and the drug epidemic. We need to tell stories that make people feel seen, not just informed. When we humanize the news, we stop being just a notification on a screen and start being a voice for the community.
2. The Text is Dead; Long Live the Reel
Okay, writing isn’t dead completely. I’m writing this, aren’t I?.
But the way we consume news has fundamentally shifted. We need to stop prioritizing 800-word articles for a generation that lives on vertical scroll.
The focus must shift to visual content. I’m talking about high-quality, fast-paced TikToks and Instagram Reels. We need to tell the whole story in 60 seconds. It’s not about “dumbing it down”; it’s about respecting our audience’s time. If we can’t capture their attention visually, we lose the chance to inform them entirely.
3. The Golden Age of PODCASTING
We are seeing a massive appetite for long-form conversation. Some people are tired of 10-second soundbites that lack context. They want depth.
We need more podcasts and vodcasts. This is personal for me; bringing Ehbasve Dhebasvamaa to life showed me that Maldivians are craving authentic, unscripted conversations.
In 2026, every major newsroom should have a strong visual arm. It’s intimate, it builds trust, and it accompanies our audience on their commute, their gym sessions, and their downtime.
4. The AI Co-pilot; Smartly and Ethically
By now, in 2026, debating if we should use artificial intelligence is obsolete. The question is how. We need to aggressively integrate AI, not to replace journalists, but to liberate them.
Let’s deploy AI to handle the high-volume, day-to-day churning of routine news and deliver it in short forms. If the AI can handle the basic updates, our human journalists get hours back in their day to focus on what they do best: creating the complex, high-value multimedia content I mentioned above. But this power requires responsibility.
I believe every newsroom needs clear, rigorous ethical guidelines and robust training so our journalists drive the tools, not the other way around.
5. Making “Support” Seamless; The Coffee Model
Quality journalism costs money. We all know this. But the traditional subscription model is a hard sell in the Maldives. We need to get smarter about monetization.
We need to integrate user subscriptions with the tools people already use. I’m picturing a system where you can unlock exclusive content or support a journalist using our national QR system or telecom wallets. It should be as easy as buying a coffee.
Imagine a “Donate a Coffee” button at the bottom of an investigative piece, where a reader can tap and send MVR 30 instantly via their phone. Frictionless micropayments are the future of sustaining independent media here.
6. Be the Mirror and the Mover
Finally, we need to remember our core purpose. We are the mirror of society. But a mirror just reflects; we need to do more. We need to push for policy changes.
Journalism shouldn’t end when the article is published. We need to take our reporting offline and into the real world.
Media houses should be organizing forums, town halls, and policy events that force the uncomfortable conversations. We have the power to set the agenda, let’s use it to actually fix the problems we write about.
The tools have changed from TikTok to AI, but the mission hasn’t. Let’s make 2026 the year we stop catching up and start leading.