Move over, Lester Holt. Popular TikTokers are commanding huge audiences on social-media platforms. 让开，莱斯特·霍尔特。受欢迎的 TikTok 用户在社交媒体平台上拥有大量受众。
By Nate Rattner美国东部时间 2024 年 10 月 8 日晚上 9:00
“It’s official,” the news report on TikTok declared. “President Biden posted a letter on X saying that he will not be seeking re-election.”“这是官方的，”TikTok 的新闻报道宣称。 “拜登总统在 X 上发布了一封信，表示他不会寻求连任。”
Despite the newsy tone, the figure on camera wasn’t a reporter for CNN, Fox News or a local station. Vitus “V” Spehar is a TikToker whose “@underthedesknews” account has more than 3 million followers, topping mainstream news outlets such as MSNBC, the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.尽管语气充满新闻气息，但镜头中的人物并不是 CNN、福克斯新闻或当地电视台的记者。 Vitus “V” Spehar 是一位 TikTok 用户，他的“@underthedesknews”帐户拥有超过 300 万粉丝，粉丝数量超过 MSNBC、《纽约时报》和《华尔街日报》等主流新闻媒体。
Spehar is one of a cohort of political news influencers connecting with huge audiences on platforms such as TikTok, playing a significant role in changing how Americans get their news. Among the 200 politically focused TikTok accounts with the most viral posts created in June and July—those with 25,000 or more views—one-fifth were news influencers, according to a Journal analysis of data from social-media research firm CredoIQ. 斯佩哈尔是一群在TikTok 等平台上与大量受众建立联系的政治新闻影响者之一，在改变美国人获取新闻的方式方面发挥着重要作用。根据《华尔街日报》对社交媒体研究公司 CredoIQ 数据的分析，在 6 月和 7 月创建的帖子最多的 200 个以政治为主题的 TikTok 账户中，即拥有 25,000 或更多浏览量的账户中，有五分之一是新闻影响者。
The accounts posted nearly 3,000 viral videos, generating more than 700 million views in a packed news cycle that included the first presidential debate, the first assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump and Biden’s exit from the race. 这些账户发布了近 3,000 个病毒视频，在密集的新闻周期中产生了超过 7 亿的观看次数，其中包括第一次总统辩论、第一次针对前总统唐纳德·特朗普的暗杀企图以及拜登退出竞选。
While viral posts from top-performing legacy media accounts still had broader overall reach, with more than 1.2 billion views, those mainstream outlets posted less frequently and had fewer viral videos than the group of news influencers, the Journal’s analysis found. 《华尔街日报》的分析发现，虽然来自表现最好的传统媒体帐户的病毒式帖子仍然具有更广泛的整体影响力，观看次数超过 12 亿次，但与新闻影响者群体相比，这些主流媒体的发布频率较低，病毒式视频也较少。
Social-media influencers—also called creators—have taken on a greater role in the political landscape. For the first time, they were credentialed alongside legacy media at this year’s Democratic National Convention. The Trump campaign, meanwhile, hosted creators at a hotel near last month’s Harris-Trump debate where they could watch and post about the event, according to a campaign official.社交媒体影响者（也称为创造者）在政治格局中发挥了更大的作用。在今年的民主党全国代表大会上，他们首次与传统媒体一起获得认证。与此同时，据一位竞选官员称，特朗普竞选团队在上个月哈里斯-特朗普辩论附近的一家酒店接待了创作者，他们可以在那里观看并发布有关该活动的信息。
News influencers bring fresh perspectives and engage younger audiences with news in a way traditional outlets often struggle to match, media and disinformation researchers say. But their rise raises questions about how they adhere to journalistic ethics and standards. It also comes as American trust in mass media is at a record low, according to Gallup.媒体和虚假信息研究人员表示，新闻影响者带来了新鲜的观点，并以传统媒体难以匹敌的方式吸引年轻受众了解新闻。但他们的崛起引发了人们对他们如何遵守新闻道德和标准的质疑。盖洛普表示，与此同时，美国人对大众媒体的信任度正处于历史最低水平。
“Unlike a newsroom where many stories are often checked, fact-checked and triple-checked by copy editors and others to make sure it’s verifiably accurate, the same isn’t necessarily true of political news influencers,” said Josephine Lukito, a University of Texas at Austin journalism professor who studies political communication. “与新闻编辑室不同的是，许多报道经常经过文案编辑和其他人的检查、事实核查和三重检查，以确保其准确性可验证，而政治新闻影响者则不一定如此，”纽约大学的约瑟芬·卢基托 (Josephine Lukito) 说。德克萨斯州奥斯汀新闻学教授，研究政治传播。
It is the informality and break from tradition, however, that are among the keys to news influencers’ increasing prominence. People want “someone that they relate to and trust” to interpret and curate their news, said Laura Manley, the executive director of Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy.然而，非正式性和打破传统是新闻影响者日益突出的关键。哈佛大学肯尼迪学院肖伦斯坦媒体、政治和公共政策中心执行主任劳拉·曼利表示，人们希望“与他们相关并信任的人”来解释和策划他们的新闻。
Spehar of “@underthedesknews” said nothing about her lack of big-media journalistic processes or budgets makes her work inherently less ethical. “@underthedesknews”的斯佩哈尔并没有表示，她缺乏大媒体新闻流程或预算，这导致她的工作本质上不那么道德。
“Every single day I feel a call to earn the trust of my audience over and over again,” she said. “There are times when the story has changed and I got it wrong and I’ll be honest about that.”“每一天，我都感受到一次又一次赢得观众信任的召唤，”她说。 “有时候故事发生了变化，我弄错了，我会诚实地面对这一点。”
No news-focused creator broke through as often this summer as Harry Sisson, CredoIQ data shows. The 22-year-old New York University senior drove more than 100 million views from viral posts in June and July through what he calls “a mix of news and advocacy for Kamala HarrisCredoIQ 数据显示，今年夏天，没有哪个以新闻为中心的创作者能像哈里·西森 (Harry Sisson) 那样频繁地取得突破。这位 22 岁的纽约大学大四学生在 6 月和 7 月通过他所说的“卡马拉·哈里斯的新闻和宣传相结合的方式，推动了超过 1 亿次的病毒帖子浏览量”
Sisson’s July video reporting Biden’s exit from the race, in which he called Biden a “fantastic president,” has 1.3 million views—more than the TikTok videos on the same topic from CBS News, MSNBC and C-Span.西森 7 月份报道拜登退出竞选的视频，他在视频中称拜登是一位“了不起的总统”，该视频的观看次数达到了 130 万次，超过了 CBS News、MSNBC 和 C-Span 播放的同一主题的 TikTok 视频。
“A lot of people get their news from social media,” said Sisson, who said he aggregates news for his one million-plus followers from a variety of sources, including the New York Times and the Washington Post. “If I can be a reliable outlet in the eyes of the people, I want to fill that role.”西森说：“很多人从社交媒体获取新闻。”他说，他从各种来源（包括《纽约时报》和《华盛顿邮报》）为他的 100 多万粉丝汇总新闻。 “如果我能成为人们心目中可靠的出路，我想填补这个角色。”
Joey Contino, 33, who is based in New Jersey and runs an account focused on politics and the Russia-Ukraine war, says viewers are drawn to creators’ stripped-down, conversational approach to news.33 岁的乔伊·康蒂诺 (Joey Contino) 居住在新泽西州，运营着一个专注于政治和俄罗斯-乌克兰战争的账户，他表示观众被创作者简洁、对话式的新闻处理方式所吸引。
“When it comes to mainstream media, I understand they have a certain way they do their broadcast, in front of the lights, in front of the screens,” Contino said. “I think we’re more in the realm of hearing things from your best friend than hearing things on TV.”“当谈到主流媒体时，我知道他们有一定的广播方式，在灯光前，在屏幕前，”康蒂诺说。 “我认为我们更多的是从最好的朋友那里听到事情，而不是在电视上听到事情。”
He rarely gives his opinion, he said, other than his view that Ukraine should be supported in its war against Russia. Contino’s 240 viral posts this summer picked up more than 35 million views.他说，除了认为乌克兰在对俄战争中应该得到支持之外，他很少发表自己的意见。今年夏天，Contino 发布的 240 条病毒式帖子获得了超过 3500 万次浏览。
“I try my best to try to stay unbiased, especially when it comes to U.S. politics,” he said. “If I’ve got my own opinion on it I’ll say it at the very end.”“我尽力保持公正，尤其是在涉及美国政治时，”他说。 “如果我对此有自己的看法，我会在最后说出来。”
The Journal’s analysis covered the 200 accounts with the most viral political posts excluding those that were inactive or not English-language. The Journal categorized the accounts as news influencers, legacy outlets or others, such as politicians and comedians, based on criteria developed with several media researchers.《华尔街日报》的分析涵盖了 200 个最热门政治帖子的账户，不包括那些不活跃或非英语的账户。 《华尔街日报》根据与几位媒体研究人员制定的标准，将这些账户归类为新闻影响者、传统媒体或其他人，例如政客和喜剧演员。
As a whole, the influencers’ feeds were more likely to lean either progressive or conservative, the Journal found, and 80% of them were classified as partisan by CredoIQ. Legacy-media accounts, on the other hand, were more politically independent, according to CredoIQ, which assigns partisanship leanings based on the views expressed by creators and topics they cover.《华尔街日报》发现，总体而言，网红的动态更有可能偏向进步派或保守派，其中 80% 的人被 CredoIQ 归类为有党派倾向。另一方面，根据 CredoIQ 的说法，传统媒体账户在政治上更加独立，它根据创作者表达的观点和他们涵盖的主题来分配党派倾向。
Some legacy-media reporters and anchors have their own individual TikTok accounts, which can extend the reach of their employers’ content and even, CredoIQ data shows, outperform the main accounts. 一些传统媒体记者和主播拥有自己的个人 TikTok 账户，这可以扩大雇主内容的影响范围，甚至 CredoIQ 数据显示，其表现优于主要账户。
News creators’ motivations vary. Some said they do it as a passion project, or for ideological reasons, and make little to no money from their efforts. Sisson said he earns a “meaningful” amount from TikTok. Spehar hosts a podcast with the media company Betches Media and does speaking engagements.新闻创作者的动机各不相同。一些人说，他们这样做是出于激情，或者出于意识形态原因，但从他们的努力中赚到的钱很少甚至没有。西森表示，他从 TikTok 获得了“可观”的收入。斯佩哈尔与媒体公司 Betches Media 一起主持播客并进行演讲。
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS 分享您的想法
To what extent do you or your family members follow influencers as a way to get the news? Join the conversation below.您或您的家人在多大程度上通过关注有影响力的人来获取新闻？加入下面的对话。
Some creators see themselves as being in direct competition with mainstream news organizations. Others said they wouldn’t be able to provide information and share their thoughts without newsrooms delivering stories first. 一些创作者认为自己正在与主流新闻机构直接竞争。其他人则表示，如果新闻编辑室不首先提供故事，他们将无法提供信息并分享他们的想法。
“Legacy news media have a lot to learn from news influencers but news influencers also have a lot to learn from legacy news media,” said Samuel Woolley, a disinformation researcher and professor at the University of Pittsburgh. “A discerning public should be aware that neither can meet all of their needs when it comes to information.” 匹兹堡大学虚假信息研究员兼教授塞缪尔·伍利 (Samuel Woolley) 表示：“传统新闻媒体可以向新闻影响者学习很多东西，但新闻影响者也可以向传统新闻媒体学习很多东西。” “有洞察力的公众应该意识到，在信息方面，两者都无法满足他们的所有需求。”
