What Anthropic, Amazon, and Apple are changing about the corporate newsroom
Something interesting is happening in corporate comms, and big tech is leading the way.
Storytelling is firmly back on the agenda. You can see it in hiring patterns, in conversations on LinkedIn and X, and in the growing number of high-paid editorial roles across tech giants and other large companies.
But more importantly, you can see it in the work itself.
Anthropic’s recent feature on what 81,000 people want from AI is a good example. Rather than publishing a report or blog post, the company created an interactive story with animated visuals drawn from the playbook of leading data storytelling teams.
While much of the coverage has focused on the methodology — using AI to both collect and synthesise the data — the format of the report is a key part of the innovation. It turns a messy mass of quotes and data into something tactile you genuinely want to spend time with.
Anthropic, more than most, understands that as AI accelerates the blandification of content, standing out means doing something genuinely distinctive.
Anthropic is doing it well, but it’s not an outlier.
Amazon has been building a library of stories on its Amazon News site, Apple publishes Newsroom articles that read like editorial features, and Airbnb, Google and Microsoft have been playing in the space for some time.
This points to a broader shift: the corporate newsroom is becoming a place to publish flagship stories alongside routine updates.
From updates to stories
Corporate newsrooms have traditionally been used to publish day-to-day news and announcements.
That still exists. But some companies now use the same space to publish more substantial work.
This shift requires different inputs. Brands are hiring senior narrative leadership to shape how they communicate, and outputs like Anthropic's interactive feature reflect that investment.
This isn’t a new conversation
There has already been a lot of discussion about this shift.
Most of it focuses on hiring. The rise of storyteller roles and the salaries attached to them has been widely shared. Mentions of storytelling in U.S. LinkedIn job postings roughly doubled in 2025, reaching about 50,000 roles in marketing and more than 20,000 in media and communications. But that’s only part of the picture.
The more useful signal is the work itself — what these roles are producing, and where it’s being published.
The enterprise newsroom, rethought
Amazon shows how this is being applied at scale.
Amazon News pairs regular updates with a smaller set of special features. Its piece on the Elkhart delivery station is a prime example of the latter. It's a structured narrative combining photography, interviews, and animated explainer content.
Built with Shorthand, it follows the style of immersive news features from publishers like The New York Times and the BBC — designed to capture readers and draw them into the story.
Apple’s long-running approach
Apple has been doing this for some time.
Its product pages use scroll-led storytelling to guide attention. More recently, similar approaches have appeared in its Newsroom.
Stories like its piece on 3D-printed titanium Apple Watch cases are written as immersive multimedia features. Apple has introduced an Apple Stories layer to distinguish this type of content from regular news.
Format and intent
Scroll-led storytelling is not new.
What has changed is how it is used by brands.
These pieces are not campaign microsites or standalone experiments. They are published in core company channels and used to communicate research, product development, and company perspective.
They are also treated differently in terms of resourcing and execution.
Putting this approach into practice
Most brand, content and communications teams already have the raw material for this kind of work.
They publish reports, research, customer stories and product updates with real substance. What often separates standout work is not the insight, but the treatment: narrative, storytelling design, and format.
That is what Anthropic gets right. The story is clear, the pacing is deliberate, and the format helps the material land.
Here’s how to apply Anthropic's approach to your content.
Separate updates from stories
If everything is published in the same format, nothing stands out. Anthropic, Amazon, and Apple make a clear distinction between day-to-day updates and premium multimedia stories.
Prioritise substance over scale
A handful of hard-hitting hero pieces will carry more weight than a stream of undifferentiated posts.
Invest in narrative capability
Build storytelling capability across your team, in both writing and design. Anthropic’s flagship piece was created by a research lead, 7 designers, 2 editors, 4 analysts, 4 engineers, and a handful of support roles — but you can start with just one or two people who can run simple research and tell a clear story. With a storytelling platform like Shorthand, you won't need developers unless you plan to include components that are completely bespoke.
Design the story, not just the page
Structure, pacing, and interaction are part of the storytelling. They affect how the content is understood and whether it holds attention.
Use a format to match the material
When a story is complex, data-rich, or exploratory, a multimedia or scrollytelling format can make it clearer and easier to follow.
A different kind of newsroom
The corporate newsroom is expanding beyond its original function.
Announcements still have a place. Alongside them, a second layer is emerging — built to unpack complex ideas and forge connection.
Anthropic, Amazon, and Apple approach this differently, but the direction is consistent.
With storytelling, they’re building a world around their work — one that people can step into, understand, and believe in.
Built with Shorthand