More Americans Get Their News From YouTube — and There’s No Going Back
It was around Labor Day when I officially swore off network news. Election fatigue played a role in disconnecting, to be sure, but I’d also found an alternative: YouTube pundits who spend hours live on their channels dissecting the top water-cooler stories of the day and exploring every possible angle. They have names like Akademiks and Kempire, who specialize in hip-hop and pop culture; Emily D. Baker and the Florida Law Man, who break down legal headlines and filings; and titles like Popcorned Planet, Legal AF, The Art of Dialogue and, my personal favorite, Tisa Tells.
As it turns out, I’m not the only one who has made the switch from broadcast and cable news to YouTube — a recent Pew Research Center study found that 54 percent of U.S. adults now get at least some of their information from YouTube newscasters, 25 percent of them on a regular basis (especially, curiously, women, who make up 57 percent of the YouTube news audience).
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If you happen to be on the other side of those percentages and haven’t yet watched one of these “shows,” they have nothing like the slickly produced anchor chair- and roundtable-filled sets of CNN, MSNBC or Fox. Most hosts are operating with little more than their built-in computer camera and a ring light. There is no producer to speak of, and certainly not a teleprompter. Much of the time, these MCs are providing analysis in real time, sourcing their information from across social media and the internet and relying on their audience to fill in the blanks.
Tisa’s daily reports all start the same, with the effervescent host — whose 5-year-old channel boasts nearly 500,000 subscribers — declaring, “Heyyyy, what’s up, guys? Well, baby, if your name is [insert headline-grabber of the day] …” She goes on to synthesize the scandal, then dives into the paperwork, sharing any supporting evidence, and interjects plenty of opinion while taking in a high-speed scroll of comments. For some topics, she might speak for three hours straight. Tisa’s tally of videos related to Diddy’s sex trafficking trial and all its sordid tentacles: More than 1,000.
“Infotainment” is how Tisa describes her brand of broadcast, referring to herself as “Karma’s chief correspondent.” I’d posit she’d be a helluva prosecutor or even a courtroom judge with the way she’s able to frame complex legal language in a “tell me like you would a child” kind of way. Similarly, Akademiks could find another line of work as an investigator. His marathon breakdown of the May rap battle between Kendrick Lamar and Drake was a masterclass in information gathering, even as it became clear that various parties were trying to influence his take on the sly.
Of course, there’s no department of standards and practices for these broadcasters — or, for that matter, a long-standing tradition of journalistic ethics. YouTube does have strict community guidelines, although seasoned hosts know how to evade algorithmic censors (which is why they often speak in what seems like code, referring to, say, “PDF files” instead of using a red-flag word like “pedophiles”). As for vetting — you know, whether or not the news they’re putting out in the world is true — Tisa, for one, says her sources are as good as they come, and she attempts to independently verify each claim with five different methods, including public filings.
Like other YouTube creators, if you can consistently draw a sizable portion of your audience to your channel, there is revenue to be made. Monetizing the content on the platform is one way, but devoted viewers can, and do, provide financial donations in the form of “super chats” — any amount, from $1 to $100 and sometimes more — will get your comment to premium visibility. Tisa, who uses Adsense for monetization, also has monthly memberships for sale at various tiers, from the basic $4.99 “Tattle Tales Family” to the $24.99 “Oh! You got MONEY money” level, and beyond. While she declined to divulge her earnings, Tisa says she does make a living from her YouTube channel.
What’s the appeal of these amateur newscasters? To hear Tisa tell it, a lot of it has to do with delivery. Her’s is more Wendy Williams than Walter Cronkite. “You can go as deep or as light as you want to go,” she says. “My job is to watch everything all the time, to pay attention, read the documents and connect the dots.”
Sometimes that means simply reciting court filings aloud and pausing to explain procedures, recap prior events or dig up receipts across the web. Context is in the eye of the deliverer, and Tisa says when it comes to the Diddy trial, “the mainstream media was very conservative in their coverage in the beginning.” She wonders how different their take would be “if they listened to what was being said on the streets for the last 10 to 15 years.”
What about politics, you ask? “That’s the OG gossip,” says Tisa, musing on how she would have covered someone like John F. Kennedy. “I would’ve gone deep down that rabbit hole.”
Growth of her channel, which is approaching 500,000 subscribers, has been “organic,” she says, adding that there is no “master career plan” per se. Brands have reached out to her and PR firms try to pitch clients and products. She has no representation and is a true one-woman operation. “I’ve gotten used to being my own boss,” says Tisa. “I’m open to any and all opportunities and would like to expand to different avenues. But I will say that, whatever the future holds, I will be firmly in control of what I want to put out. For that, I’m eternally grateful to YouTube.”
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