News Influencers and Gen Z Are Reshaping News

[Celerity]

Gen Z increasingly relies on influencers for news and information—but the quality is all over the place.

https://prospect.org/2026/05/30/influencers-gen-z-reshaping-news/



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—not traditional legacy outlets—often hold sway over their news and information diets. Nearly 40 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds, a cohort raised online, regularly consume information from news influencers—a higher share than any other age group. Teenagers ages 13 to 17 are even more engaged, with 81 percent saying they stay informed through influencers.

The Pew Research Center defines news influencers as individuals “who regularly post about current events and civic issues on social media and have at least 100,000 followers” on Instagram, TikTok, X, Facebook, or YouTube. They’re 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 more on personal branding than journalistic credentials—all of which appeal to younger audiences.

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.

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.

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[ret5hd]

1. "Trump Destroyed..."

“Republicans Collapse…”
“Trump Faces Massive Crisis…”
“Senate Republicans Tremble…”

this isn’t news…and it doesn’t help.

[hlthe2b]

2. "Influencers"... that term alone should be enough said

I hope those with GEN-Z kids, siblings, friends, relatives, and acquaintances will try to teach them why training, experience, and credentials actually DO make a difference when seeking advice. Likewise asking the questions needed to detect BS.

It is ironic that some of the oldest elders among us--many who cannot deal with technology and are ripe for con men and scams-- are so derided by the youngest. Yet it is many among this same young adult cohort that is likewise falling for adamant, yet know-nothing influencers, to their own same detriment.

AI may be the end of us. Then again we seem quite capable of doing it to ourselves. Con Men (and women) abound.

[Torchlight]

3. I suppose I'll remain stolid and old-school on this one

From my own chair, journalism's value is not simply delivering information in a relatable format. It's the rigorous process of investigating claims, testing assumptions, examining evidence, and weighing a story's merits, premise, and conclusions before presenting them to the public, and separates reporting from commentary. I think journalism demands more than attention and authenticity. It requires a professional standard of inquiry that is too often lost when reporting becomes a hobby rather than a discipline.

[Keepthesoulalive]

5. Perhaps if mainstream media adhered to the standards you believe in.

We wouldn’t have this hodgepodge of noise. No one trusts the old guard and they have proven they don’t deserve to be trusted. People paid to sway opinions not report news have tainted our relationship with truth so we now have a Tower of Babel where almost no one can communicate serious ideas.

[msongs]

4. the more hysterical the captions, the less worthy the content will be, in my experience

[GreatGazoo]

6. Legacy media is completely hollowed out

The change that legacy media cannot overcome is they were a one-to-many model that was top down. Social media is many-to-many; a true marketplace of ideas.

Cable news relies heavily on discussions, opinions and speculation to fill up their 24-hour output. As the saying goes, "Facts kill discussions" so cable news has moved steadily toward "hot takes". Legacy media therefore has all the worst parts of social media but few of the good parts.

Social media is highly interactive, another aspect which legacy media declines to embrace. Many legacy media outlets which publish videos to YouTube have their comments turned off. Again, this is a holdover of the one-to-many model.

More than half of YouTube's content is watched on TV screens; not phones or tablets. So YouTube is steadily pushing legacy media out of the only place they had advantage.

Social media delivers a far bigger variety in far more formats than legacy media. 15-second clips is one format but 2+ hour podcasts as a completely different one, one that needs no screen and therefore makes it preferred for work and long drives.

Legacy media went from ignoring social media (~2004) to picking up key social media news stories that could not be ignored (2016 - Standing Rock) then back to ignoring social media content while demonizing the formats. I'm currently following the new version of Michael Moore, a humorous confrontational journalist who produces long form content. His story on, of all things, the theft of $200K worth of collectible Star Wars Lego sets by a Utah based chain, exploded over the weekend. 3 million views in 3 days plus many other content makers repacking his content. Part of my interest is to see if and when legacy media picks up the story.

Yes news is reshaped. Thanks for sharing that article.