25 March 2025

How RocaNews is redefining news for young audiences

Ahead of his session at the FIPP World Media Congress 2025, we spoke with co-founder William (Billy) Carney about the philosophy behind RocaNews, the challenges of misinformation, and what media professionals can learn about reaching younger audiences.

News for a distrustful generation

At a time when trust in news is at an all-time low and traditional media struggle to capture younger audiences, RocaNews is proving there’s another way. With an innovative approach that challenges traditional business models and editorial norms, RocaNews has now grown to an audience of over two million readers, boasting an Instagram engagement rate ten times the industry average.

Co-founder Billy Carney did not originally come from a media background, but he started to become acutely aware of the growing disengagement with news among his peers – an issue exacerbated by sensationalist coverage during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“My co-founders and I agreed: there was too much sensationalism, exaggerated alarmism, and a sense that legacy outlets were simply out of touch,” he says. “We started Roca to try to reengage young people with current events and improve the world with better news.”

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The secret to engagement?

Unlike traditional media, which often operates as a one-way broadcast, RocaNews thrives on audience interaction.

“Since our founding, we have treated news as a two-way street – we listen,” Billy says. The company actively engages with its followers, hosting AMAs (Ask Me Anything), responding to messages, and even meeting readers in person to understand what matters most to them. This hands-on approach has cultivated an audience that not only trusts Roca but participates in shaping its coverage.

“We’ve built a list of tens of thousands of global readers that have applied to become ‘Roca Reporters,’ giving us ‘boots on the ground’ on every continent and enabling us to deliver news in a way that others can’t.”

Challenging tradition

RocaNews takes a minimalist approach to news, challenging the industry’s reliance on volume-driven business models.

“Most news companies rely on website clicks and cranking out dozens of thousand-word articles a day, which causes content to end up sensationalised and contributes to the ‘doomscrolling’ phenomenon,” says Billy.

Instead, RocaNews prioritises concise, digestible content that informs without overwhelming. “We have set up our business model in a way that we can scale our revenue without necessarily needing to scale our content output.”

Navigating misinformation

In an era of rampant mis- and disinformation and declining trust, RocaNews’ community-driven model acts as both a filter and a safeguard. “It starts with creating good, trustworthy content,” says Billy.

But what sets Roca apart is the accountability built into its audience interactions. “We have a very politically diverse audience that knows they have an open line to us. If we post something that lacks important context or seems to skew one way or the other, we will hear about it within 30 seconds. They keep us honest.”

This radical transparency extends to error correction. Unlike traditional outlets that may bury corrections in footnotes, RocaNews openly acknowledges mistakes. “If we make a mistake, we own up to it. We don’t sneak the correction into the footnotes of an article a week after it’s been published.”

Meeting audiences

Young people have largely turned away from traditional news sources, but RocaNews has found a way to build credibility with this audience. “From a structural perspective, we meet them where they are,” Billy says. “We deliver content in places they already visit, as opposed to constantly trying to drive them to a website.”

The relatability factor also plays a key role. “Our whole team is under 30, and so is the majority of our audience. We interact with the internet differently. If companies want to reach young audiences, I think they should hire the next generation to reach the next generation.”

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Lessons for the future

Billy’s message to the global media industry is clear: young audiences aren’t disengaged from news – they’re disengaged from traditional news formats. To reach them, publishers must rethink content delivery, embrace audience interaction, and adapt their structures to reflect the communities they aim to serve.

For RocaNews this next involves expanding its video offerings. “We started our flagship YouTube channel late last year and took it from completely dormant to 100,000+ subscribers in about five months. We want to accelerate growth from here,” he says.

For media professionals seeking to future-proof their brands and connect with younger audiences, Billy’s session at FIPP Congress promises to be an unmissable discussion on the future of news.

“I hope that delegates get a sense of how we approach news with an entrepreneurial eye,” Billy says. And for those looking to collaborate? “We’re always open to partnerships. If anyone is interested in working with Roca, please reach out.”