ABSTRACT

This article explores two cultural mediators—the lifestyle journalist and the trend forecaster—and places them in relation to one another, discussing their similarities and parallel roles as tastemakers. It first looks at how trend forecasting and some forms of lifestyle journalism—more specifically, service journalism—share an appetite for making sense of the new, novel and future, while providing advice. By doing this through the analysis of case studies in journalism and trend reporting, it cross-analyses the formats and language used by both agents to find that they not only work in parallel to one another, but also that, in some cases, they aid each other’s work. It also looks at how a recent change in the field, from ‘tastemaking’ to ‘sensemaking’, is aimed at helping audiences and differentiating either the publication or trend agency in the media landscape.