Who do you trust more after the election: journalists, creators, or Substack?
💬 Quick CONVERSATION STARTERS:
Let’s start from plain data… wait, not so plain!
A new Pew Research Center study “provides a deeper understanding of both the makeup of the news influencer universe and its audience.” Here some of the top findings:
About 1-in-5 Americans — including a much higher share of adults under 30 (37%) – say they regularly get news from influencers on social media.
News influencers are most likely to be found on the social media site X, where 85% have a presence. But many also are on other social media sites, such as Instagram (where 50% have an account) and YouTube (44%).
Slightly more news influencers explicitly identify as Republican, conservative or pro-Donald Trump (27% of news influencers) than Democratic, liberal or pro-Kamala Harris (21%).
A clear majority of news influencers are men (63%).
Most (77%) have no affiliation or background with a news organization.
A few key takeaways:
X’s CEO Linda Yaccarino recently commented on MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski going to Mar-a-Lago to talk with Donald Trump in a face-to-face meeting, the first in seven years: “The people have spoken and it’s wise for the legacy media to respect that. Yelling into our own silos makes no progress. Breaking through echo chambers is the only way we’re going to bring this country together. The people are the media now.”
“It’s time for legacy media to build a new social media playbook,” writes
in a post on Substack. “Social media platforms don’t want you to click out to read more somewhere else. We know that adding links significantly lowers the reach of a post.” And she asks: “What if legacy news organizations gave their social teams the resources to use social media sites that barely drive traffic to do something other than drive traffic?”“As traditional TV viewership numbers continue to decline, people are defecting to short-form video players like YouTube and TikTok along with streaming services like Netflix,”
writes in . “In this brave new world of TV, creators have the potential to serve as the new TV channels. Remember the days when we couldn’t wait for the next episode of our favorite weekly television shows? Creators are offering the equivalent– when they upload longer-form videos at a regular cadence.”
- writes: “The way we talk about the media and political coverage — as a matter of editors and producers picking stories and headlines — is stuck in the 20th century. It’s comfortable and familiar to complain about the billion-dollar media companies that often annoy us but not the trillion-dollar platforms deciding what information hundreds of millions of Americans see.”
“There isn't a media executive that doesn't know that there's a problem. There isn't a media executive that isn't actively working on that problem,” former CNN CEO Chris Licht told Seana Smith at the Yahoo! Finance Invest conference in mid November.
- , Director of Media Relations at Sloane & Company, writes in Newsweek: “While journalism faces challenges, its enduring adaptability and evolving models suggest a vibrant future. As we navigate this digital age, the essence of journalism—providing reliable information and fostering community—remains more vital than ever.”
Former Meta’s executive
of points to ’s post-election analysis “Back to the Future: Assessing Trump’s Triumph and What’s Next.” Katie writes: “My favorite part is about how all trust is local, and that is why people trust influencers, Substackers, and podcasters versus the media because they have more first-hand experience with them where as the media is broader.”In a post on
about the recent WebSummit in Lisbon, spoke with Ray Kanchan, CTO of Nagarro, and Ania Lichtarowicz, who runs The Global Tech Podcast.Atkinson: “The US election prompted a huge debate on media trust Kanchan said that he’s started asking himself whether what he sees and reads is real.”
Kanchan: “It’s put a huge question mark on the media's trustworthiness and that’s not good. There’s a right wing and a left wing and there’s no trustworthy middle news.”
Lichtarowicz: “Did your parents buy a newspaper every day? They spent a pound to get information that was sourced and checked. If you want it for free then misinformation is going to continue. Journalism has been mocked and has been degraded as unworthy of payment and I’m really angry about this.”
Trusting News and
’s worked together to survey traditional and non-traditional journalists with a survey designed to guide thinking around developing norms for creator journalism that both normalize this growing cohort and give consumers and funders a way to recognize trustworthy information. Some of their takeaways:88% of those surveyed agreed there should be a shared standard against which we measure responsible, fact-based independent creator journalism.
66% said they try to post clear information about their processes in their work.
94% said they would be interested in hearing about available training or programming to support responsible, ethical content creation.
“The problem of producing ethical journalism in a competitive attention economy is that to reach people’s brains, you have to get past their nervous systems first,” writes
— who we are quoting here for a second time — in his recent Substack after appearing on the podcast “Why Is This Happening?” hosted by MSNBC’s Chris Hayes. “People have the consciences of saints and the consumption habits of monsters. Often, the only way your ideas break through is by making people mad, getting them to laugh, or delivering the news with a moralistic or political bent that reaffirms your audience’s worldview. You know — red meat. Social media and audience analytics tools make this a two-way street for creators. Producing bangers gives you an endorphin rush! A lot of people can’t stop chasing that high of ballooning follower counts, pageviews, read times and subscription pledges after their first time tasting it. Never underestimate the power of number go up.”- writes in his Substack : “The collapse of clear contrasts defined youth voting in 2024. While Biden won this group by 25 points in 2020 (61-36%), Harris's narrow margin told a story of lost momentum. Her campaign rollout, convention speech, and debate performance initially captured young voters' attention, but the subsequent paid media strategy and messaging failed to maintain that early, joyful energy through the crucial final weeks.”
So what actionable recommendations to give reporters and creators?
Pollster, political commentator, and author
said Kara Swisher’s podcast: “Taking your message to places where it is unexpected is so, so, so valuable. […] It’s not just about the medium. It’s about things that are a unique message, that are unexpected, maybe they are meme-able, there is something that amuse, entertain, make your jaw drop. That is still the stuff that breaks through. The content still matters, even as the medium is changing.” and CNN’s media team have been receiving feedback from readers of the Reliable Sources newsletter. Here are some of the concrete recommendations and ideas that have emerged:First, recognize the scope of the problem
Pop the bubbles
Listen to young people and learn from their media habits
Note the big differences between talking and reporting, but recognize that both have value
Make content for casual news consumers and those turned off by politics
Meet people where they are
Start stories at the beginning, not in the middle
Don’t compromise on facts, but make room for feelings
Solicit questions from readers/viewers and follow through with answers
Cover the tumultuous information environment as a story in its own right
Build trust through news coverage outside of politics
Start small
According to DW’s
writing on The Fix, “As TikTok becomes a growing source of news, the role of the traditional newsroom must evolve.” She adds: “One critical adaptation involves empowering journalists to become the faces of their brands, stepping into the spotlight to engage with younger audiences in the formats they prefer.”And here a few of Erika’s recommendations:
Prioritize short-form, video-first content
Invest in on-screen personalities
Collaborate with social media creators
Encourage authenticity in reporting
Do we trust Substack and Substackers?
“Tens of thousands of free and paid newsletters are published on Substack each day on topics as varied as salad recipes, Bitcoin strategy and vintage fashion,” write Jessica Testa and
in the New York Times. “But in terms of readership and revenue, the platform’s most prized category is politics. Increasingly, Substack has been selling itself as a home for cogent analysis and civilized discussion — an alternative to the decay of social media discourse.”The Times quotes Substack co-founder
as saying: “There’s a desperate need for a quality platform with trusted voices, where honest-to-God political discussion, debate, disagreement can happen without it either disappearing into the ether or taking place on a platform where there’s constant knife fights and flame wars.”The paper reports that Substack’s “recent push into politics began in September last year when Mr. McKenzie wrote in a memo that he wanted the 2024 campaign to be ‘the Substack election’. It was a response, in part, to moves by tech platforms like Meta’s de-emphasis of political content on Facebook and Instagram.”
“They bowed out entirely and created this huge opening for us,” said
, a former CNN producer and publicist for The Washington Post, whose hiring as Substack’s head of politics was announced in Mr. McKenzie’s memo.What’s next for Substack?
This happened a few days ago on Notes:
“YouTube but with direct-to-creator subscriptions and all media types, and where creators own their relationships with their audiences. How does that sound?”
— Hamish McKenzie
Lots of interested comments:
- : “It sounds like Patreon.”
Hamish: “I don’t know of anyone who goes to Patreon like they go to YouTube, though.”
- : “Ambitious and potentially lucrative. […] There is some degree of opportunity in this area simply because so many creators have grown weary of the many times YouTube will demonetize content because of some perceived infraction.”
Hamish: “I also think that, while the YouTube model works well for some, there are a great many creators who will do much better with the Substack model than they do with the YouTube model.”
- : “People are so used to going to specific places for specific things. YouTube for videos. Cinema for movies. Libraries/Kindle/bookshop for books. Comic shop for comics. Record shop for records. The idea of finding ‘all the stuff’ in a single space is a big change.”
Hamish: “I reckon people will increasingly go to places to find and connect with specific people they trust rather than to find a specific media type.”
- : “I worry that people using Substack will not find my written newsletter because they’ll be directed to video content instead.”
Hamish: “It’s not about finding a particular media type—it’s about finding writers and creators to fall in love with, no matter what medium they specialize in.”
- : “I don’t hate it… but I did like the writing emphasis in the beginning, writers and readers are a cool bunch.”
- : “I’m looking to transition away from YT for various reasons. The time is right.”