This year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner was different than years past. The president bailed — he didn’t just ghost the event, he left the country, opting to attend the pope’s funeral rather than participating in a tradition every other president has upheld for the last hundred years. The comedian was banned, something I’d call unprecedented… but you already knew that. No roast, no jokes, no spark. Just an empty stage and catered food. The event, which is usually one of the hottest, most exclusive tickets in town, felt like it was officially over.
But while legacy media clung to its crumbling rituals inside the ballroom, the real story was happening outside.
Across D.C., something else was taking shape: creators, independents, and digital insurgents filled the vacuum that traditional journalism has left behind. Substack hosted a buzzy new media alternative party with guests like the guys behind MeidasTouch (4.8 million followers), Mehdi Hasan (Zeteo Newsfounder), and yes, even Sean Spicer.
The night before, an exclusive, invite-only dinner organized by Gymnasium founder Adam Faze and marketing guru Jessica Hoy brought together influential creators like Suzanne Lambert and Elizabeth Booker Houston, along with other rising forces in new media. For many, it was their first time attending a celebration for a dinner they didn’t even seem to want to go to.
But news influencers didn’t come to D.C. to steal journalists’ jobs, they came to fill a gap that’s been widening for years.
“Journalism is not doing the job right now. Journalism needs to step that shit up,” said Keith Edwards, a longtime progressive political operative turned YouTuber, whose channel has more than 493 000 subscribers and videos have racked up millions of views in less than a year. “The White House Correspondents’ celebration should be a funeral,” he said after taking pictures at the Substack party.
Once the arbiters of public opinion, many legacy outlets are now eclipsed by individual news influencers who reach far more people on their own than traditional media does as a whole. And while corporate media may have more resources than a TikToker, they lack the digital knowledge that’s increasingly essential for reaching news consumers today. “They have legacy money,” Edwards said, “but they also have legacy problems.”
Adam Faze, who founded the shortform content studio Gymnasium (and who produced viral shows like Subway Takes and Boyroom), put it bluntly: “Regardless of whatever you think of YouTube or TikTok, it is television for most young people—so either you’re on television, or you’re not.”
And that’s not just a cute metaphor. It’s a warning. “The platforms that exist right now—CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News—can either get with the times and be on the platforms that you and I are watching, or they won’t exist for our generation,” Faze said.
But this influencer revolution doesn’t come without risk. Traditional outlets offer lawyers, health insurance, and infrastructure. Being an influencer-journalist typically doesn’t. And in a political climate increasingly hostile to the press, that lack of institutional protection can make you incredibly vulnerable.
Video essayist Mina Le joined YouTube to explore the platforms impact on fandoms and the video essay community that fuels and nurtures them.
Mina has nearly 1.7 million subscribers to her channel, where she covers topics like internet culture, consumerism, film and so much more. Check out her video with YouTube below.
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