{"id":118,"date":"2026-05-30T10:09:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T10:09:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=118"},"modified":"2026-05-30T10:09:52","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T10:09:52","slug":"news-influencers-and-gen-z-are-reshaping-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=118","title":{"rendered":"News Influencers and Gen Z Are Reshaping News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The days of picking up the Sunday paper at a neighborhood newsstand, or even gathering around the television to catch the evening news, are fast disappearing. Young Americans are increasingly relying on social media platforms, where news influencers\u2014not traditional legacy outlets\u2014often hold sway over their news and information diets.<\/p>\n

Read more Organized Money: The Mechanic vs. the Billionaire with Dan Osborn<\/a><\/p>\n

Nearly 40 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds, a cohort raised online, regularly consume<\/u> information from news influencers\u2014a higher share than any other age group. Teenagers ages 13 to 17 are even more engaged<\/u>, with 81 percent saying they stay informed through influencers.<\/p>\n

More from Finley Williams<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Pew Research Center defines<\/u> news influencers as individuals \u201cwho regularly post about current events and civic issues on social media and have at least 100,000 followers\u201d on Instagram, TikTok, X, Facebook, or YouTube. They\u2019re also known for their sometimes strained relationships with legacy media outlets, as well as their humorous, opinionated, and personality-based content, which tends to lean<\/u> more on personal branding than journalistic credentials\u2014all of which appeal to younger audiences.<\/p>\n

Creators like Carlos Eduardo Espina and V Spehar provide quality news in ways that connect with young people, reaching individuals who may engage less with traditional media sources. Espina has amassed more than 15 million followers with his Spanish-language posts geared toward Latinos, while Spehar has garnered nearly five million followers across platforms with their easily digestible recaps of recent national political and cultural events. Other influencers like podcaster Joe Rogan and independent journalist James Li take more controversial positions on some of the major issues of the day.<\/p>\n

But even the most committed social media journalists are not immune to the constraints of video sharing on online platforms, which prioritize punchy hooks, short clips, and high engagement. For Riley Sharon, a senior at DePaul University in Chicago, the innate pressures of short-form content make it difficult for news influencers to create quality journalism, and for viewers to properly process it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you think about how a lot of information is conveyed to people\u2014a lot of it in short-form content\u2014it\u2019s very flashy, it\u2019s very kind of \u2018keys jingling in your face,\u2019\u201d Sharon says. \u201cIt almost shuts off the opportunity to really digest and think about it on your own.\u201d In a news model where a poster\u2019s personality is more important than the quality of their reporting, the question becomes \u201cbasically how attractive can you be to a viewer \u2026 how can you sell yourself more than you\u2019re selling the actual content you\u2019re making,\u201d Sharon says.<\/p>\n

Read more AIPAC and Auchincloss<\/a><\/p>\n

The presence of a clear personality and perspective may be a core reason for Gen Z\u2019s affinity for news influencers. \u201cGen Z gravitates toward social media and news influencers because it feels more personal and easier to understand,\u201d says Sydney Chan, a senior at Syracuse University, where she studies broadcast and digital journalism. \u201cTraditional news can sometimes come off as distant or overly formal, while influencers feel more like people explaining what\u2019s going on in a way that may be more relatable and digestible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Legacy news outlets have taken note, responding to Gen Z\u2019s changing news consumption habits with social media and video content of their own. Late last year, the American Press Institute published<\/u> a \u201cguide to influencer collaborations,\u201d while The New York Times<\/em> launched<\/u> a TikTok-style \u201cWatch\u201d tab which features short, informal clips describing recent events, or showing a reporter explaining their latest story. The Washington Post<\/em> was a notable new-media early adopter, when journalist Dave Jorgenson famously launched its TikTok<\/u>, and later The<\/em> Washington Post<\/em> Universe, in 2019. The Post<\/em>\u2019s TikTok has amassed almost two million followers.<\/p>\n

According to Hanaa\u2019 Tameez, a staff writer at Harvard University\u2019s Nieman Lab, which studies changes in the news industry, news influencers have spurred a redefinition of \u201cwho is and isn\u2019t a journalist and what qualifies as journalism.\u201d \u201cNews publishers are becoming more adept at providing journalism in different formats and different mediums that serve different audiences,\u201d Tameez says, adding, \u201cThe gap between when a trend catches on and becomes popular versus when a news publisher starts doing it \u2026 is over time getting smaller.\u201d<\/p>\n

For 27-year-old influencer Aidan Walker\u2014whose content about internet culture and current events has earned him almost 200,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok, as well as appearances at VidCon, a content creator industry conference, and on The Atlantic<\/em>\u2019s Galaxy Brain podcast with Charlie Warzel\u2014these developments serve a need, imperfect as they are.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, more and more, the best thing they have are these TikTokers who are just random dudes in their twenties. They\u2019re trying their best, [but] there\u2019s just such little out there for people, and they turn to social media because they can\u2019t find [anything else],\u201d Walker says. \u201cYoung people are so interested in the world, and they want to learn more about it, and they want to think critically about their place in it, but who\u2019s going to give that to them?\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Archiving Joy<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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