‘Newsfluencers’ give young people a third of their news. But are they really journalists?
For the first time ever, internet platforms are the most popular global source of news, according to the annual Digital News Report from the Reuters institute of Journalism, released this month.
The new report found that 77% of global respondents now consume news in the form of online videos each week — and 56% of people between the age of 18 and 24 have never regularly read a newspaper. This fits with findings from the Pew Research Center that 32% of adults under 30 “get entertainment news extremely often or often.”
As the “digital content creation” industry continues to grow — with estimates it will be worth $132 billion within a decade — it raises important questions about the options available to news consumers. Among them: In an industry increasingly tipping toward “newsfluencers”, how can citizens be sure they’re receiving solid, reliable information?
What is a ‘newsfluencer’?
Newsfluencers, or news creators, are a category of the media that includes people who make videos on platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Often, their content features themselves and their take on events. Unlike traditional news broadcasters, they often center their own experiences and perspectives in their content, or play more of an aggregator role.
The category also includes people who are not primarily focused on news, but rather on a domain, like parenting or fashion. While providing facts on their topic of expertise can fill some of the space traditionally occupied by journalism – like informing and educating people, “we actively avoid using the word journalist,” said Rachel Lobdell, who runs the News Creator Corps, a training program for creators to develop journalistic skills.
Read more: Who counts as a journalist? Arrests, access fights put press freedom on trial
“Anyone can perform acts of journalism,” Lobdell told Straight Arrow. “And they are doing the work, whether or not that’s how they identify.”
However, “journalist” is “not a title that they want,” said Lobdell, who has trained creators in skills like fact-checking and how to request public documents via Freedom of Information laws.
All content creators can benefit from better vetting factual information and the ability to reference sources, she added. And so can their audience: “Parenting creators are being asked for their stance on the Tylenol and autism debate,” she said.
How do algorithms shape the content creators make?
Platforms like Facebook and Instagram have incentive structures that prioritize emotional reaction and engagement, according to Leo Lindermans, who runs the page LeoExplains alongside a full-time job at TikTok. This may fundamentally change the information that news creators feel they need to make.
“The algorithms prioritize engagement,” Lindermans said. That, he said, “usually doesn’t necessarily correlate with how truthful and factual you are — it’s how engaging you are.”
Lindermans became a creator because he realized that there was a lot of bad information circulating online. “I’m a big believer that misinformation radicalizes people, and that can have very dangerous consequences. So, I kind of started posting,” he told Straight Arrow.
While he reports on current events, Lindermans doesn’t consider himself a journalist. He steers clear of both breaking news and investigative work.
“I always kind of position myself as an educator,” he said. “I want people to learn something from my content.”
But his success, he said, depends heavily on the algorithm of the platforms where he posts.
“Unfortunately, the competition is not based on how factual, truthful or professional you are. The competition is very much on the entertainment value,” Lindermans told Straight Arrow. “This is the biggest challenge.”
He sees a lot of content creators exaggerating or making non-factual statements to get likes and clicks, and thinks there should be more transparency around how influencers make their money.
Read more: Comedian’s alleged ‘fishy’ $25k job offer illuminates sponsored information industry
That challenge can be especially daunting for creators who are not trained journalists, according to Carrie Schreck, an independent photojournalist.
What do creators need to know?
“Formal journalism would teach you that you aren’t the story — you’re there to cover things and it’s good journalism to talk to people on both sides of an issue,” Schreck told Straight Arrow.
Creators not understanding this, Schreck said, contributes to the larger and more dangerous problem of polarization, and a lack of trust in the media.
“We’re entering this period where many more people are getting their information and are fed by more likes, more views. That currency always comes at heightening the situation, over-describing the things that are going on, and being as dramatic as humanly possible,” she told Straight Arrow.
This may be filtering into audiences’ perceptions of the news industry as a whole; the Reuters report found that people’s worries about misinformation rise alongside their use of third-party platforms. But, it also found, “convenience appears to trump concern.”
Schreck has witnessed situations in which news creators in the field made themselves and their reactions the center of the story. This added bias – and in some instances, misinformation – to their final pieces. And audiences are not always able to suss out what is and isn’t true.
Lindermans said he often finds that his content is shown to people who already agree with the point of view or critique that he is offering. This means that as a creator, he has to be very clear about his values and the importance of focusing on true information.
“I had a video recently a few days ago that went viral,” he said. After his video received a lot of engagement from a specific audience, he was tempted to make more of that type of content. But, he said, “I always try to stick to my values where I don’t go down that path.”
Despite how the algorithms work, the Reuters report found that half of all respondents preferred to get news from sources that don’t have a particular point of view; only 22% preferred news from sources that held the same perspective as them.
What might change the equation?
Some new news apps are trying to scale back social media algorithms’ influence in how people encounter news creators. Lindermans is in a paid partnership with a platform called SaySo, which is launching soon. The app aims to be a kind of “Apple News for creators” and will host a curated selection of video news creators with “zero rage bait.”
Similarly, the startup Newsreel aims to create a news-only social media platform for trusted creators, and has recruited Gen Z brand ambassadors and student journalists to boost the platform.
It’s not a perfect fix. These new startups will still mediate the relationship between creators and their audiences. Creators are filtered and can be removed from the platform at the discretion of the editors.
News influencers and content creators have a unique role in the information landscape, according to Lobdell, because they can access places that traditional journalists might not be able to go. Zohran Mamdani made influencer conferences and appealing to “new media” a cornerstone of his 2025 campaign for New York Mayor.
Lobdell sees this as a growing trend, and it’s one she wants creators to approach with rigor. The News Creator Corps teaches participants to ask “one more question” — a follow up that refuses to take politicians’ initial statements at face value.
“These are people who are serving a community, who care about that community, who are part of that community, who want answers,” she said.
Lobdell described the News Creator Corps as “Botox, not plastic surgery,” for creators. “Your audience should just feel like you’re getting better at what you’re doing, but they shouldn’t feel like you’re different.”
Round out your reading
- America at 250: Straight Arrow’s week-long look at the pressures testing modern America.
- Ketamine is booming in America. The reasons go beyond drugs.
- Cluster of AI news sites suddenly goes dark after human reporter starts asking questions.
- A 79-year-old, obese, well-connected man gained exclusive access to a new weight loss drug. Is it Trump?
- Newsom pushes national wealth tax after opposing California billionaire tax.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
