What do "newsfluencers" mean for journalism? What can digital content creators and journalists learn from each other?
These are the questions driving a year-long project by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas and UNESCO that has led to the publication of a pioneering e-book offering a holistic look at the topic.
On Monday, Oct. 21, the Knight center published the free, open-access e-book, “Content Creators and Journalists: Redefining News and Credibility in the Digital Age.” Available to download for free now, the e-book, funded by UNESCO, is an edited collection of lessons and observations from digital creators and journalists from around the world, shedding light on the emerging importance of influencers in the news media landscape.
“We are grateful for UNESCO’s support for another pioneering project from the Knight Center, this time to cover one of the most important phenomena of this stage of the digital revolution: the emergence of influencers or content creators and their impact on the media ecosystem, especially on how how people consume news and information,” said Rosental C. Alves, Knight Center founder, director and UNESCO Chair in Communication at the University of Texas at Austin.
The e-book features interviews, research and first-hand accounts with journalists, content creators and activists. Some of those featured participated in a roundtable discussion in Austin, Texas, in April 2024; were panelists at the 25th International Symposium on Online Journalism in Austin; or were part of the experimental Youth Multimedia Room, where journalists, creators, and activists joined forces to cover UNESCO’s 31st World Press Freedom Day conference in May 2024, in Santiago, Chile.
News content creators from across the globe are highlighted in this e-book, including Dylan Page (aka News Daddy) of the United Kingdom, Kassy Cho (founder of Almost) of Taiwan and Hugo Travers (aka HugoDecrypte) of France.
By Teresa Mioli
Image 1: Canva
Image 2: Gogo Ortiz/Knight Center
Image 3: Gogo Ortiz/Knight Center