A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
People are getting more of their news from influencers on social media. And that's especially true for young adults, according to the Pew Research Center. It found that nearly 40% of Americans aged 18 to 28 say they regularly get their news from influencers.
MARTIN RIEDL: In a lot of ways, young people engage with news by news coming to them. When you talk to young people, they're informed, but they might not necessarily be able to tell you how the news got to them.
MARTÍNEZ: That's Martin Riedl, who teaches platform studies and media entrepreneurship at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. I started by asking him about how people's social media algorithms determine the information they receive.
RIEDL: We see a lot of identity-based news consumption, and that certainly draws us into spaces where we don't necessarily engage with news that's, quote, "on the other side." So there's a fracturing going on, and that's important also, like, in trying to make sense of what happened in this election and how the information ecology consists of bubbles.
MARTÍNEZ: So who exactly are audiences broadly relying on to, quote-unquote, "tell it to them straight"?
RIEDL: I think, you know, this election shows us that legacy organizations still play an important role for chunks of the population, particularly older voters. But really, when it comes to younger people, they look at not necessarily people who are trained in any way as journalists, but who, you know, talk about other topics, talk about entertainment issues. That's really interesting when influencers start talking about politics, although, you know, their core brand is not necessarily about that. We've seen the shift in power between legacy organizations and influencers, really, when we look at the Republican National Convention or the Democratic National Convention and the credentialing that's been going on there, where, you know, influencers were showing up in large numbers and campaigns really courting them to be there and to talk to their audiences.
MARTÍNEZ: Why do you think that happened? Why do you think there was a shift away from scientists, from journalists, other thinkers and other experts?
RIEDL: We see these crises of trust in institutions that we otherwise thought, you know, we should look to, like, science, medicine, research-based activities at universities, journalistic organizations, right? People are looking for authenticity, and that's sort of the currency that influencers are trading in. They want someone who they can relate to, who somehow speaks to them on an identity-based level. And so searching for this authenticity is then where people spend their time online, and then politics gets infused in that.
MARTÍNEZ: So nontraditional media does not operate by the same standards as, say, we do here at NPR. They don't necessarily fact-check. They're not driven by the same motives. A lot of disinformation seeps out on these kinds of platforms. So how concerned are you about that?
RIEDL: You know, as someone who's been studying dis- and misinformation for a long time, I am concerned about the prevalence of false information in online spaces. As we talk about sort of the shift from, you know, legacy organizations and their important role in society towards individuals who have this power to sway opinions, there is less of a professional ethics that we know. It's an industry information. There is no long, storied history of journalism traditions and journalism ethics that we can look to. And so it really is a Wild West when it comes to what is acceptable for influencers to do and say and promote.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, what was the role of podcasters and influencers in moving Americans to vote for Donald Trump in this election?
RIEDL: I think one of the moments that was fascinating to me was as Trump was doing the victory speech, there was this moment where Dana White was on stage thanking a bunch of content creators.
MARTÍNEZ: And just to be clear, Dana White is the head of the UFC, the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
RIEDL: That's right. Yes. And I think that moment really illustrates so well this power shift in where people look to for their content and for their political recommendations. Because there were a bunch of content creators that were name-checked in that speech, and that really shows just how much the Trump campaign relied on these content creators to get their ideas out.
So the Trump campaign really focused on getting Trump into those studios with podcasters that were catering to young men. Those podcasts that Trump went to, they were not necessarily political podcasts, right? They were podcasts about UFC, about sports, but politics sort of was woven into it, into the fabric of these podcasts, and they were sort of open and receptive podcast hosts to ideas that Trump was promoting.
MARTÍNEZ: That's Martin Riedl. He teaches platform studies and media entrepreneurship at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Martin, thank you.
Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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