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9.4: News Influencers

  • Page ID
    294889
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    Professional journalists would like to claim that their work is distinct from what social media influencers do, even though most journalists are very active on social media platforms. It is expected of journalists at traditional mass media outlets to build a presence on social media. But the relationship between journalists and people who compete with them for attention and authority on social media is an interesting one. There has been much research on how journalists would like to draw boundaries around their work to maintain their authority (Coddington & Lewis, 2018), but journalists have never actually asked the audience what they think, whether these boundaries are necessary.

    In a study discussed by Coddington and Lewis (2018), two researchers, Susan Banjac and Folker Hanusch, used focus groups of young people in Austria to examine their perceptions of journalists and content creators on Instagram, YouTube, and blogs, and also the standards young people set for these content creators and journalists.

    The results showed that audiences want both groups to maintain the same high standards. The standards that audiences in this study set for content creators were the same as for journalists: they expected authentic work, more engagement, transparency, and prioritising content over clicks.

    This study showed that, for audiences, the standards of journalism may be bleeding into other content creator groups. Audiences seem to think that content creators and journalists are not that distinct and that they should all maintain certain standards. This is an interesting study and important to keep in mind when we talk about journalism influencers.

    Just like you can be a make-up influencer, for example, you can also be a journalism or news influencer. It is possible to create news content on YouTube, Instagram, or other platforms, gain many followers, and then earn an income through endorsements (just like newspapers earn an income through advertising).

    Many younger people prefer to find their news on social media platforms (Malone, 2021), so there is clearly a gap for good news influencers, for example, on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. The advantage of being a news influencer is that you can build a sense of familiarity with your audience – they feel they know you, unlike when the audience consume the news from large organisations, which they see as faceless (Hlalethwa, 2019).

    There are already people who make money by being news influencers. One example is Philip DeFranco, an American news commentator on TikTok. He records his shows in Los Angeles, presents short episodes of news discussions, talking about the main events of the day, and he has 1.2 million followers (Malone, 2021). DeFranco’s niche is that he aggregates (gathers) the interesting news of the day from various sources and then talks about the news in a fun way. He found an audience who likes that.

    A former television news presenter in the US, Marcus DiPaola, left the formal media business and started a TikTok channel, @marcus.dipaola. He presents short news clips of news events as they happen, aimed specifically at a younger audience. He has 2.6 million followers. Also, a university student from Texas (Arizona), Emma Silverman, has a news channel on TikTok, called @emma_silverman1, where she discusses the news with her followers. In mid-2021, she had more than 214 000 followers. It is clear that many young people are interested in the news, especially if presented by their peers.

    TikTok profile of Philip DeFranco showing his photo, verified badge, bio, follower count, and three video thumbnails with varying backgrounds and views.
    Philip DeFranco’s TikTok page.

    TikTok creators and other news influencers make money from advertising and brand merchandise. Some TikTok creators also make money from sponsored posts, which is risky when you are creating a news channel because you need to remain independent. Being a news influencer is quite different from being a fashion influencer, where it is all about you and your fashion likes and where you might even recommend certain brands because you are paid to do so. As a news influencer, you may become an independent source of news in your community because people trust you and believe you because you follow the basic principles of journalism as discussed in this textbook.

    You should not take money from advertisers to tell only their side of the story – that would be unethical. If you do allow sponsored posts, just make it clear that the posts are sponsored so that your viewers do not confuse your news posts with the sponsored posts. This way you would maintain your journalistic independence, just like large news media organisations who also publish sponsored “news” but clearly indicate that the news is sponsored.

    The ideas discussed above are just some of the popular entrepreneurial journalism options that are available. Once you put your mind to it, you might come up with a brand-new idea that nobody has thought about yet.

    Summary

    This textbook provided you with a general introduction to journalism. Upon completion of the book, you can feel confident that you know enough about journalism to enter the field to be able to create good-quality, trustworthy news stories. But do not stop learning here, keep reading about journalism and keep practicing your skills. And maybe try your hand at some news creation on social media like YouTube. There are still many gaps in the growing and changing field of journalism that young, independent journalists can fill.


    This page titled 9.4: News Influencers is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.