Latest news with #AaronParnas
Yahoo
03-08-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
This Is the News From TikTok
The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. When he learned one night this summer that the United States had bombed Iran, the content creator Aaron Parnas responded right away, showing what's bad and what's good about using TikTok for news. Shortly after 7:46 p.m. ET on June 21, he saw Donald Trump's Truth Social post announcing the air strikes. At 7:52, according to a time stamp, Parnas uploaded to TikTok a minute-long video in which he looked into the camera; read out the president's post, which identified the suspected nuclear sites that the U.S. had targeted; and added a note of skepticism about whether Iran would heed Trump's call for peace. As traditional media outlets revealed more details that night, Parnas summarized their findings in nine more reports, some of which he recorded from a car. Parnas wasn't adding elaborate detail or original reporting. What he had to offer was speed—plus a deep understanding of how to reach people on TikTok, which may not seem an obvious or trustworthy source of news: The platform is owned by a Chinese company, ByteDance, which lawmakers in Washington, D.C., fear could be manipulated to promote Beijing's interests. TikTok's algorithm offers each user a personalized feed of short, grabby videos—an arrangement that seems unlikely to serve up holistic coverage of current events. Even so, according to a Pew Research Center poll from last fall, 17 percent of adults—and 39 percent of adults under 30—regularly get informed about current affairs on the app. Fewer than 1 percent of all TikTok accounts followed by Americans are traditional media outlets. Instead, users are relying not only on 'newsfluencers' such as Parnas but also on skits reenacting the latest Supreme Court ruling, hype videos for political agendas, and other news-adjacent clips that are hard to describe to people who don't use TikTok. Last summer, after the first assassination attempt on Trump, one viral video fused clips of the bloody-eared Republican raising his fist with snippets of Joe Biden's well wishes. Simultaneously, Chappell Roan's ballad for the lovestruck, 'Casual,' played, hinting at a bromance. On my For You page in June, as U.S.-Iran tensions flared, I saw a string of videos known as 'edits'—minute-long music montages—on the general topic. One spliced together footage of zooming F-16s, Captain America intimidating his enemies in an elevator, and bald eagles staring ominously while AC/DC's 'Thunderstruck' blared. Skeptics might wonder: When people say they get their news from TikTok, what exactly are they learning? [Read: The internet is TikTok now] Frequent consumers of current-affairs content on TikTok insist that they can decipher what's going on in the world—that, even if they have to extrapolate facts from memes, the brevity and entertainment value compensate for a lack of factual detail. 'A lot of things are in simpler terms on TikTok,' Miles Maltbia, a 22-year-old cybersecurity analyst from Chicago, told me. 'That, and convenience, makes it the perfect place to get all my news from.' And as more and more users turn to TikTok for news, creators such as Parnas are finding ways to game the algorithm. Parnas, who is 26, is a lawyer by trade. He told me that he monitors every court case he deems significant with a legal tracker. He was immersed in politics at an early age. (His father, Lev Parnas, gained brief notoriety as an associate of Rudy Giuliani during Trump's first term. 'I love my dad,' Aaron Parnas has said. 'And I'm not my dad.') C-SPAN is on 'all day every day.' And he's enabled X and Truth Social notifications for posts from every member of Congress and major world leader. When he decides that his phone's alerts are newsworthy, he hits the record button. His rapid-reaction formula for news has made him a one-man media giant: He currently has 4.2 million followers on TikTok. He told me that his videos on the platform have reached more than 100 million American users in the past six months. His Substack newsletter also has the most subscriptions of any in the 'news' category, and he recently interviewed Senator Cory Booker, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, and this magazine's editor in chief. Still, Parnas's TikTok model relies heavily on reporting by other outlets. And Parnas's 24/7 information blitz may be jarring for those whose media-consumption habits are not already calibrated for TikTok. There's no 'Good evening' or 'Welcome.' But he's reaching an audience who other media don't: Many of his viewers, he thinks, are 'young people who don't watch the news and never have and never will.' He added, 'They just don't have the attention span to.' Ashley Acosta, a rising senior at the University of Pennsylvania, told me she liked the fact that Parnas is his own boss, outside the corporate media world. She contrasted him with outlets such as ABC, which recently fired the correspondent Terry Moran for an X post that called Trump a 'world-class hater.' Nick Parigi, a 24-year-old graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, also sees Parnas as a valuable news source. 'You're getting less propagandized,' he told me. 'It's not pushing an agenda.' Last year, Parnas explicitly supported Kamala Harris's presidential candidacy, but he prides himself on delivering basic information in a straightforward manner. 'I wish we would just go back to the fact-based, Walter Cronkite–style of reporting,' he told me. 'So that's what I do.' For Parnas to sound like the CBS News legend, you'd have to watch his TikToks at half speed. If Parnas is a genre-defining anchor, Jack Mac is the equivalent of a shock jock. A creator with 1.1 million followers, he uses the term 'journalisming' to describe his work, which amounts to commenting on stories he finds interesting or amusing—such as a 'patriot' New York firefighter being suspended for letting young women ride in his firetruck. 'Do I think TikTok is the best source for news? No,' Olivia Stringfield, a 25-year-old from South Carolina who works in marketing, told me. But she's a fan of Mac because he offers 'a more glamorous way to get the news'—and a quick, convenient way. 'I don't have time to sit down and read the paper like my parents did,' Stringfield said. Robert Kozinets, a professor at the University of Southern California who has studied Gen Z's media consumption on TikTok, told me that users rarely seek out news. It finds them. 'The default position is: Algorithm, let the information flow over me,' he said. 'Load me up. I'll interrupt it when I see something interesting.' On a platform where little content is searched, creators dress up the news to make it algorithm friendly. The Washington Post is one established media brand that has leaned into the growing format of TikTok news skits. In one video about the Supreme Court, a Post staffer wearing a college-graduation robe wields a toolbox mallet as a gavel to channel Chief Justice John Roberts, and when she mimics him, her background turns into red curtains. 'South Carolina can cut off Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood,' she says. Dave Jorgenson, who launched the Post's TikTok channel in 2019, announced recently that he's leaving to set up his own online-video company—a testament to the demand for this new style of content. [From the January 2025 issue: The 'mainstream media' has already lost] The Post's embrace of TikTok has been unusual for an outlet of the newspaper's stature. The prevalence of vibes-based content on the video platform raises obvious questions about truth and accuracy. Many users I spoke with trusted crowdsourced fact-checking to combat misinformation, via the comments section. I asked Maltbia, the analyst from Chicago, how he knows which comments to trust. 'I'll usually look at the ones that are the most liked,' he said. 'But if it still sounds a little shady to me, then I'll probably Google it.' Parnas defended the integrity of TikTok news. 'There's no more misinformation on TikTok than there is on Twitter, than there is on Fox News, than sometimes there is on CNN,' he told me. That claim is impossible to verify: TikTok's factual accuracy is under-researched. One assessment by the media watchdog NewsGuard found that 20 percent of TikTok's news search results contained misinformation—but no user I spoke with bothers with the app's search function. Whether TikTok will continue to gain popularity as a news outlet isn't yet clear. Citing fears of hostile foreign control over a major communications platform, Congress overwhelmingly passed legislation aimed at forcing TikTok's Chinese owners to sell. But Trump has now delayed implementation of the law three times since he took office. In the meantime, users of the platform keep stretching the definition of news. On TikTok, 'news is anything that's new,' Kozinets, the USC professor, told me. Entrepreneurial creators who care about current events will keep testing delivery formats to gain more eyeballs on the platform. And even if TikTok is sold or shuts down, similar apps are sure to fill any vacuum. The challenge of packaging news for distribution by a black-box algorithm seems here to stay. Article originally published at The Atlantic
Forbes
10-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Meet The New Vanguard Of News: How Millennials And Gen Z Are Redefining The Business Of Media On Their Own Terms
In an era where trust in legacy media is waning and digital platforms are shaping political and cultural consciousness, a new generation of citizen journalists is emerging, armed with iPhones, credibility, and conviction. Millennials and Gen Z, digital natives raised on both hashtags and hard truths, are crafting a new kind of media empire, one where authenticity and accessibility overtake broadcast polish. And leading the charge are figures like Aaron Parnas and Lynae Vanee, two breakout voices who've built national followings by meeting audiences exactly where they are: online. According to a June 2025 Nieman Lab report, for the first time, survey participants say they get their news from social media over television. Parnas, a lawyer-turned-commentator, has amassed millions of followers across platforms by translating fast-moving political developments into bite-sized, jargon-free videos. Often dubbed a "TikTok journalist," he resists the label, not because he rejects social media, but because he refuses to be boxed in. Aaron Parnas 'Every journalist, whether they're on TV, radio, or print, is a content creator,' Parnas says. 'We don't call Jake Tapper a TV journalist. He's just a journalist. I'm doing the same work, just on a different platform.' What began as quick updates on geopolitical developments during the Russia-Ukraine war quickly evolved into a trusted pipeline for daily news and policy breakdowns. But with growing skepticism around TikTok's future in the U.S., Parnas diversified his presence early, pivoting much of his energy to Substack. 'I generate 90% of my income from Substack,' he shares. 'It's a more intimate setting, and people actually care about what I'm saying rather than just scrolling past.' That financial independence, fueled by subscribers hungry for accessible analysis, allows Parnas to operate without the editorial gatekeeping of legacy institutions. It also makes him part of a growing cohort of self-employed media entrepreneurs using newsletters, short-form video, and podcasts to bypass traditional publishing paths altogether. Vanee's rise followed a different, though no less intentional, trajectory. A former educator and spoken-word artist, she first found viral success with her series 'Parking Lot Pimpin',' a genre-defying blend of performance, pedagogy, and political commentary. Lynae Vanee 'When I was a teacher, we were taught that nobody cares what you know until they know that you care,' Vanee says. 'So I always try to make people feel seen in the work.' Her poetic delivery, often shot in one take from the front seat of her car, helped her cultivate a dedicated Instagram following and eventually land her own show, The People's Brief, on REVOLT. There, she operates with what she calls the 'best of both worlds,' bringing her digital authenticity into a traditional network setting while retaining creative control. 'I have a producer credit, I write for the show, and the team has really been amenable to my voice,' she explains. 'We're figuring out how to package these ideas for TV without losing the nuance.' Nuance is key. Vanee's content, grounded in Black feminist thought, historical context, and grassroots activism, is rarely optimized for virality. And yet, it resonates. Despite algorithmic hurdles, she's maintained a steady audience drawn to the clarity and candor of her political takes. 'I'm convicted,' she says simply. 'This work isn't just a job. It's a calling.' Both Parnas and Vanee embody what makes this generation's approach to journalism different: transparent, targeted, and rapid. They aim to inform and mobilize, without pretending to be neutral about injustice. Yet neither sees themselves as activists per se. For Parnas, the job is to simplify the news, not shape it. 'Because I'm a lawyer first, or rather I was a lawyer, something that was really instilled is that you have to be able to take very complex subjects and distill them down in quick and easy ways for a jury of your peers," he says, explaining his straightforward style of video-making. When you're in front of a jury of six or twelve, you're not talking to twelve lawyers, you're talking to twelve average Americans, teachers, plumbers, contractors, who don't know anything about the law. You have to teach them the law as if they are." Vanee, on the other hand, views her work as part of a broader cultural and artistic legacy. Her training in African American studies and spoken word infuses every episode with intentionality. 'Being a full human being is an act of resistance,' she says. 'My platform allows me to be more than a commentator. I'm also a poet, a daughter, a friend, and all of that informs what I bring to the screen.' While both creators admit the path isn't always easy, Vanee notes the monetization challenges of 'sensitive' political content, and Parnas has faced skepticism from traditional journalists, the impact is undeniable. Collectively, they reach millions of viewers weekly, offering a counter-narrative to both corporate media and partisan echo chambers. And they're not alone. A growing number of millennial and Gen Z creators are building what amounts to a decentralized news ecosystem. Some host newsletters. Others record explainer videos from their kitchens. All are united by a desire to democratize information and reimagine what journalism can look like in the 21st century. Their tools may be unconventional, but their mission is not. 'Legacy media dismissed TikTok at first,' Parnas says. 'But give it a year, everybody's going to be there. Because this is where the people are.' For millennials and Zillennials forging their own path in media, the lesson is clear: the newsroom is wherever your voice can be heard. And the future of journalism is already streaming.
Fox News
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Gavin Newsom launches Substack to fight 'disinformation'
California Gov. Gavin Newsom already had a podcast. Now he has a Substack, too. Newsom launched his own site Tuesday on the popular spot for independent journalists, calling it a way to "break through "the noise." "We have to flood the zone and continue to cut through the right-wing disinformation machine," he wrote in the post that was accompanied by a video of the governor speaking. "There's so much mis and disinformation out there, there's so much noise, I don't need to tell you that," Newsom said. "The question is, how do we break through all of that noise and engage in real conversations? And that's why I'm launching on Substack. I hope you'll follow me so we can continue to engage in a two-way conversation at this critical moment in our history." Newsom kicked off his new project by sharing his Fox News Digital op-ed on Tuesday titled, "Trump is trying to destroy our democracy. Do not let him." He also posted an interview with Democratic strategist and TikToker Aaron Parnas. He told Parnas that joining new media platforms like Substack was "foundational and fundamental" to Democratic strategy and outreach going forward and that his party must get more "aggressive" with their messaging. Newsom launched his own podcast in March, "This is Gavin Newsom," where he's conversed with liberal allies but also pro-Trump figures like Charlie Kirk and Newt Gingrich. The likely 2028 Democratic presidential candidate already has a high profile, but he's held the spotlight even more in recent weeks as California became the epicenter of the Trump administration's illegal immigration crackdown. Newsom has spoken out harshly against President Donald Trump's deployment of the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles to quell unrest generated by anti-ICE protests. "With this act, President Trump has betrayed our soldiers, the American people, and our core traditions; soldiers are being ordered to patrol the very same American communities they swore to protect in wars overseas. The deployment of federal soldiers in L.A. doesn't protect our communities – it traumatizes them," he wrote. Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit accusing Trump of overstepping his bounds by illegally deploying the National Guard to quell the unrest. Last week, a federal judge sided with California in his ruling and directed Trump to return control of National Guard troops to Newsom's command. EXCLUSIVE: NEW 'GAVIN NEWSOM FILES' REVEAL CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR'S 'EXTREME' AGENDA"Defendants are temporarily ENJOINED from deploying members of the California National Guard in Los Angeles," U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer wrote in his ruling. "Defendants are DIRECTED to return control of the California National Guard to Governor Newsom." White House spokesperson Anna Kelly blasted the ruling as an "abuse of power" that "puts our brave federal officials in danger" and said the Trump administration would appeal the decision. A federal appeals court stayed the ruling and will hear arguments Tuesday to review whether Trump can keep using California's National Guard to protect immigration enforcement officials and quell protests.
