Social media influencers dressed in white produce content during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, August 22, 2024.
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A search on a bench survey Taken during the 2024 presidential campaign showed that 20% of Americans now get their news from social media influencers on various apps.
Given the growing role of influencers in the democratic process, it seems like we should seriously consider a few things: Should they be trained? If yes, how and by whom?
Summer Harlow is associate director of the Knight School for Journalism in the Americas at UT Austin. She created a class for what she calls newsfluencers. “Content Creators and Journalists: Redefining Timeliness and Credibility” attempts to provide these influencers with the tools needed to ensure accuracy and build trust in their work.
V Spehar is a digital content creator who started UnderTheDeskNews. Spehar has accumulated over 3 million followers on TikTok since launching his platform in 2021.
To better understand the changing media landscape, I spoke to Harlow and Spehar.
Origins of the class
Harlow: Well, this is a collaboration between the Knight Center and UNESCO. When we started talking about this with UNESCO, the journalist in me cringed a little to ask: what do influencers really have to do with journalism? But the more I think about how the public is turning away from traditional journalism, how they’ve lost trust, how journalists are really struggling to get their message across in a way that’s acceptable and understandable. Then we see all these digital content creators and influencers actually reaching audiences in new and innovative ways. It really makes you realize that, hey, maybe they’re doing something that journalists can learn from. And that’s kind of how we started this project.
At startup Under the desk
Spehar launched their platform on January 6, 2021, when they crawled under a desk to create a TikTok as supporters of President-elect Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol.
Spehar: One thing about TikTok is that you have to have a stick. Mine broadcast the information under the desk rather than at the desk. It was a little more visually interesting. We live in very absurd times, so doing something stupid seemed like the right thing to do during a difficult story.
On why Under the desk resonates with viewers
Spehar: I think it’s because it felt more personal, a little more peer-led. I generally said that Under the desk has been a safe space for information, in a caring way. People were looking for that kind of reassurance, that feeling that they were being spoken to and not. Social media is just the next new platform where people can get their information.
On how influencers manage information accuracy, accountability and independence
Spehar: Something I’ve said before is that every day I have to earn the trust of my audience because making a mistake affects your credibility the same way it does any other journalist or media outlet. The difference is that I don’t have a lot of support for what I do, so it may take a little longer to research things or you rely heavily on existing publications. I was using a ton of their reporting to try to re-inform our readers, to make sure the facts I was presenting were accurate.
There are a lot of people who look to social media influencers and try to make it less than journalism. I think this is a mistake.
There has been this idea that there is a certain hierarchy or a right way to do journalism and news. It’s just another form of digital journalism. It was like blogs before, like digital newspapers were before. People have always had resistance to what comes next, but I don’t think it’s any less.
On how influencers can balance authenticity with training in traditional journalistic practices
Harlow: Everyone must be trained. One thing we have encouraged in this course is the importance of media literacy, something that is not only important for journalists, but that everyone should acquire.
I think that while people who use social media to spread information can benefit from learning how to fact-check information, that doesn’t make what they’re doing any less authentic. This makes it more credible.
The transparency that so many of these digital content creators and influencers demonstrate in speaking to their audiences, that’s why I reported the story, that’s how I found out who I was going to speak to, that’s that’s why I didn’t interview this person or that’s why I didn’t do this other story. This type of transparency has been lacking in traditional journalism for too long.
If you think about the type of journalism that mainstream media do, it’s very different from community journalism. This type of information that is closer to communities is often considered more “authentic”. It’s something the public trusts more. And these major media outlets, unfortunately, have kind of lost that connection with their audience.
Spehar: We should expect news influencers to have this training and fact-check. People assume that people are successful online because they are entertaining, not because they rely on facts or have used the principles of traditional journalism to craft their particular story.
I’ve been asked before, well, who edits you? Who decides your ethics? My audience does. If something is wrong, they will tell me.
On disinformation
Harlow: Misinformation is not unique to social media. Social media has absolutely amplified it. We also see misinformation in traditional mainstream media.
Holding people who do journalism on social media to different standards than traditional journalists is a bad habit. All this will only create deeper divisions between journalists and influencers.
Yes, we have this huge problem with disinformation and misinformation, which is why I talk about the importance of media literacy. We really need to make sure that consumers understand how to verify information and don’t just believe something because it fits what they already believe to be reality.
On influencers at the DNC and RNC
This tension between influencers and traditional media gained prominence when influencers gained access to the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. Spehar posted a TikTok in August discussing their feelings after the convention.
Spehar: I have a better circulation, and if I wrote a newsletter for the Washington Post, people wouldn’t have a problem with that. It’s because my platform is TikTok that they said, well, it’s really not serious. I think this is a bias that traditional media can have. They see people like me as some sort of skipper or interloper because they have made no effort to examine how I developed this ability to communicate with people.
There is currently a shortage of work and jobs in the journalism industry in general. We’re seeing so many newsrooms close their doors and when there’s a shortage, people will start trying to push anyone out of the space they think is being left. I think this is actually a fight between influencers and traditional media.
I’ve tried many times to talk to traditional media, to help them access these new platforms, to understand the culture because we don’t work without each other. I am an excellent communicator and interpreter, but I do not have the money to get on the ground in Ukraine. I am not a photojournalist trained to go into combat zones and tell a story that requires delicacy and courage. But if we work together, more people will be able to hear this story.
What influencers can learn from traditional media
Spehar: There’s a lot of humility and you have to have a strong sense of resilience to be a communicator of any information. This is something I learned a lot from people like Kara Swisher and Jen Psaki and even Bob Woodward.
Harlow: We developed this online course for journalists, communicators and influencers. We coordinated an editorial team that covered World Press Freedom Day in Chile. We brought together journalists, influencers and activists. All of this has taught us that there is so much both sides can learn from each other.
We have all seen what happened with the advent of the internet and social media, journalism was left behind and this cannot happen again.
Everything journalists need to do a better job of, influencers need to do a better job of, too, and vice versa. The way influencers are so successful at reaching their communities where they are is what journalism was originally supposed to be. Somehow we got through it.
This is me doing a complete 180 from where I was a year ago when we started this project. This is the future of journalism, what these influencers are doing is really ideally what journalism is supposed to be at its core. This holds those in power to account, but it also serves the public interest.
On the possible ban on TikTok
Spehar: Hundreds of thousands of people will suffer the financial consequences of a ban.
Additionally, I think the most important thing we need to recognize is the way this trial was conducted, which was not reported in the media. While we’re talking about this on TikTok, I haven’t seen this in mainstream news.
When it comes to journalism, information or democracy, the TikTok affair is an epic story that goes unnoticed because many people are biased against TikTok.
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