General Session: The Next Generation of News Coverage

One-third of adults under 30 regularly scroll TikTok for news, and that was in 2023. While news may break through traditional media, it’s being amplified and discussed by others on social media which can impact points of view. Who and how are the influencers sharing news and does it change the narrative?

Speakers: Emily Amick (@EmilyInYourPhone), Rina Shah (Rilax Strategies),
Alex Dickinson (Beekeeper Group)

Notes:

If you had to explain your job to a time traveler (1950s) how would you do it?

• Multi-hyphenate
  • Influence opinions 
  • Geopolitical risk advisor
• Personal televison anchor

How do you define your role in the news cycle right now?

• Rina doesn’t consider herself a journalist
  • She doesn’t give people just the news
  • She wants folks to know she has seen things on Capitol Hill
  • Calling balls and strikes- considers herself a player
• Emily considers herself a journalist
  • Content aggregation 
  • Bias- discourse about media, fake news
  • Her audience wants her interpretation of the news
  • Political commentary is nothing new, but doing it on social media is new

What is it like doing traditional media?

• Things evolve (Rina)
  • My opinion matters, I can talk about politics
  • Too many people were unsure of where to find my opinions
  • Rendering her opinion in 2016- traditional media started to come after her
  • People didn’t know what she did- so she put herself out there in a way she wanted people to know her as
• Democracy in Retrograde (Emily)
  • Her audience feels overwhelmed and frustrated by political news
    • Merely reacting and never acting
    • Doom scrolling
    • Getting involved in civic life- shaping their path
    • How to get news in a way that is sustainable
    • You DO NOT have to know everything!

What is social media doing to us? 

• Try not to consume traditional media (Rina)
  • Things we do are not black and white– understanding nuance
  • Approach with caution
  • Traditional media needs to open themselves up to a realm of possibility
  • She values the freedom and autonomy that traditional media can’t provide for her

• Trains already left the station! (Emily)
  • Such is nature of bureaucracy- slow to catch onto rising trends
  • Media organizations are struggling to find their place among social media
  • Easier to get a viral video than a constant high engagement rate

What is it that makes other platforms more news-centered compared to certain other platforms?

• Algorithm
  • Instagram (Emily)
    • Her primary audience is on Instagram
    • Her target audience is millennial women and Instagram is where most of those people are
• Breaking down complexities (Rina)
  • Breaking down the good
    • They were coming on her takes of news
    • LinkedIn, Youtube, Instagram, X
    • Moderate centric perspective 
    • Don’t be afraid of being yourself- don’t give into trends because you think it will engage differently or do better

How do you think the amplification process is different for liberal or moderate perspectives?

• Democratic party (Emily)
  • The algorithm ecosystem does exist
  • Talking about your news sources 
  • Social media allows people to self-select into certain crowds
• Coming from traditional media to social- it’s messy! (Rina)
  • Patterns- the audience is mainly men
    • They consume untraditional media 
  • Alienating folks with certain beliefs is a missed opportunity
    • Embrace cross partisanship

Does your political affiliation change the way you amplify stories?

• No! (Emily)
  • She very much feels she has ownership of her ideas and values
    • Her party is the best vehicle for the society she wants to live in

• Remaining in her party because she wants to change it (Rina)
  • Getting back to the values
  • Duopoly- advocating to change it
  • Looking at a person based on merit
    • Not singling a person in an identity box
  • Find your own way of finding what doesn’t feel right to you

Media outreach, news influencers

• Place media strategy (Emily)
  • Spend money to produce stories, talk to journalists who get paid by newspapers
  • Does not  need content- money is key
  • Social runs on personality- institutions do not have that
    • Parasocial identity 
• Trust (Rina)
  • Outreach from the hill- plenty!
  • Long-form political commentary- international media is the way to go
    • Lets her get her point across

Do memes make maintaining journalistic integrity a challenge?

• Media report on tik tok trends
• Campaigns are not news
• People can have fun! News does not need to be a slog to get through
• Intergenerational friendships

What am I reading (Rina)

• Beyond NY Times Daily- podcast
• Smaller media orgs
• A mix of pod and print
• International media
• No right-wing or extreme left-wing outlets 

What am I reading (Emiy)

• Media literacy