National Security Council staffers and Jen Psaki briefed TikTok influencers about the U.S.’ strategic goals in Ukraine and answered questions on distributing aid, working w/ NATO and how the United States would react to a Russian use of nuclear weapons https://t.co/nTfFVlDYzI
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) March 11, 2022
One of President Biden’s underrated gifts is that he genuinely likes people, which is a rarer talent among politicians than one would expect. He enjoys having people tell him about what they do — and he hires people who understand that people appreciate being appreciated. President-Granpa Joe may not understand ‘the cyber’, but he’s genuinely pleased that you’re willing to explain it to him!
Per the Washington Post:
On Thursday afternoon, 30 top TikTok stars gathered on a Zoom call to receive key information about the war unfolding in Ukraine. National Security Council staffers and White House press secretary Jen Psaki briefed the influencers about the United States’ strategic goals in the region and answered questions on distributing aid to Ukrainians, working with NATO and how the United States would react to a Russian use of nuclear weapons.
As the crisis in Ukraine has escalated, millions have turned to TikTok for information on what is happening there in real time. TikTok videos offered some of the first glimpses of the Russian invasion and since then the platform has been a primary outlet for spreading news to the masses abroad. Ukrainian citizens hiding in bomb shelters or fleeing their homes have shared their stories to the platform, while dangerous misinformation and Russian propaganda have also spread. And TikTok stars, many with millions of followers, have increasingly sought to make sense of the crisis for their audiences.
The White House has been closely watching TikTok’s rise as a dominant news source, leading to its decision to approach a select group of the platform’s most influential names.
This week, the administration began working with Gen Z For Change, a nonprofit advocacy group, to help identify top content creators on the platform to orchestrate a briefing aimed at answering questions about the conflict and the United States’ role in it. Victoria Hammett, deputy executive director of Gen Z For Change, contacted dozens with invitations via email and gathered potential questions for the Biden administration…
The briefing was led by Matt Miller, a special adviser for communications at the White House National Security Council, and Psaki. The Washington Post obtained a recording of the call, and in it, Biden officials stressed the power these creators had in communicating with their followers. “We recognize this is a critically important avenue in the way the American public is finding out about the latest,” said the White House director of digital strategy, Rob Flaherty, “so we wanted to make sure you had the latest information from an authoritative source.”…
The Media Village Idiots, of course, are furious! Biden people catering to a bunch of kids with no credentials or familial legacies, when they are so rude to Very Important News People like Pete Doocey!
You read a good move by the administration to reach out to younger people and give them reliable information about a conflict they might not understand. https://t.co/TEWxqh5WSu
— Josh Russell (@josh_emerson) March 11, 2022
We must close the Tik Tok gap pic.twitter.com/xi0rXYvBme
— David Weigel (@daveweigel) March 11, 2022
Further proof that SNL is written by 40-something dads, for 40-something dads:
NotMax
Two-sided coin.
Influencer does not imply expertise.
Chris T.
@NotMax: But on the other hand, pundit does imply an utter lack of any expertise whatsoever. So there’s that.
Brachiator
I like this Biden guy. He may have a future in politics.
I have been among a lot of people who have said that the Democrats should use new media channels to reach out to people, not because it is cool or hip, but simply because younger people have abandoned traditional and mainstream news outlets.
This is very true, but increasingly punditry and traditional journalism has abandoned expertise.
There is a level of government communication that is mainly handing out press releases to media people who will simply regurgitate them, maybe with a little spin. Some of this alternative media effort is just getting the message out to a wider audience.
Ten Bears
Peter Doocey ~ that’s the guy that looks like his face has been stepped in … ?
Or should be
Idus Martiae
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-health-europe-c0f2f859296f9f02be24fc9edfca1085
Frankensteinbeck
These TikTok stars have large audiences who we want to become voters. They cannot possibly ask stupider questions than the White House Press Corps. They give a damn, which almost all mainstream journalists don’t. We keep asking for questions asked by real people in interviews. This is exactly what we keep asking for, and I salute Biden for doing it.
satby
@NotMax: neither does being what passes for news readers these days. This is a great move by Team Biden, because a lot of great twitter content is being generated on TikTok and then shared via Twitter, and then us olds see it.
And the kids usually have better questions than the White House press corpse anyway. “Influencer” is a weird job, but I know a Thai one (in fashion) and they work pretty hard to create fresh content.
Plus, what @Frankensteinbeck said.
MagdaInBlack
@Frankensteinbeck: I agree. Acknowledging and engaging these young people is a fantastic idea.
Baud
I hope Biden does OnlyFans next.
Just kidding. I agree with @Frankensteinbeck.
ETA: and satby, of course.
debbie
@NotMax:
Frankly, neither does being a journalist.
debbie
All the current media Twitter “experts” thought Twitter was ridiculous in the beginning, too.
satby
@Baud: ??
Anne Laurie
I once saw another white dude like Doocey described as looking ‘like the sole of someone’s foot’.
Unmemorable, and yet something you wouldn’t choose to be starting at, given a preference.
Kay
Greg Price is a “digital strategist” for far Right candidates.
Promotes Glenn Greenwald and Tulsi Gabbard a lot
It’s the same Right wing frame we see over and over- the only “free speech” is THEIR speech, the only information avaliable should come FROM THEM.
NotMax
I fully understand the initiative to reach out to so-called influencers, with a caveat.
My primary concern is the people supplying them information as well as the end users consuming the information confusing influence with expertise.
Yes, many traditional reporters are as described above. Compounding that by adding a layer of individuals who may be beholden to no one and to nothing but clicks (and some of whom, as laypersons and/or with scant underpinning life experience, may not fully grasp or may misinterpret the information) is potentially problematic is all I’m saying.
Kay
I had his title wrong- sorry- “senior” digital strategist
Ohio Mom
I’m so old I remember it was news worthy that *bloggers* were reached out to, both by presidential campaigns and administrations. Thus, Atrios’s tag line, “I used to be internet famous.”
Ken
@Frankensteinbeck: @satby: Now I’m imagining Psaki’s response* when someone whines about the tik-tokkers getting a briefing. “Well, Peter**, some people are saying that the tik-tokkers ask better questions than the White House Press Corps. We also carefully vetted the tik-tokkers, and none of them are actively spreading Russian propaganda.”
* I often fantasize about Psaki’s responses. Is that healthy?
** I said someone, but we know who it will be.
NotMax
@NotMax
Edit for clarity.
(and some of whom, as laypersons and/or with scant underpinning life experience, may not fully grasp or may misinterpret the information, and end up passing along flawed, incomplete or cherry-picked messaging)
Ken
@Ohio Mom: I imagine there were complaints when the TV news readers were first briefed, instead of serious print journalists.
(All of whom, if movies from the ’50s and earlier are to be believed, ran out of the briefing room and fought over the pay phones in the hall so they could call in their stories.)
Kay
@NotMax:
It’s that if you don’t talk to them you’re leaving them to the “digital strategists” and “independent media” who all have a viewpoint they’re pushing and who have no journalistic standards at all. Biden has a choice- he can pretend they’re not being flooded with “information” that is dubious at best, or he can engage.
NotMax
@Ken
So old that when worked a short stint as a newspaper reporter, would type up the copy, then commandeer one of the phones in the press room and dictate the story to the person who picked up at the rewrite desk.
bjacques
That SNL skit was painful anyway, even allowing that I’m not a 40-something dad. I liked the singing boils better.
And Weigel blew his line. It’s “Gentlemen! Gentlemen! We must not allow, a TikTok gap!” I know it’s a select audience, but …standards!
NotMax
@Kay
Y’all seem to think I’m against the project. Not so, but exercising caution before diving into a new pool is warranted.
James E Powell
@Brachiator:
I will be 67 in two weeks and I have abandoned mainstream and traditional news outlets. I’m not on TikTok, but you know what I mean.
More seriously, I applaud the president’s efforts to reach people.
Wag
@NotMax: If Biden doesn’t supply them with accurate information, then Putin and/or Carlson will supply them with misinformation. Accuracy is on us.
lowtechcyclist
@Frankensteinbeck:
YES.
I’m in my late 60s, so I barely know that TikTok exists, but I’ve got enough sense to be aware that the people who follow these TikTok stars almost certainly don’t watch Meet the Press and don’t read the NYT or WaPo columnists with any regularity. So you reach them where they are.
And yeah, they can’t ask worse questions than the mainstream pundit corpse does. I’m not sure what those people do with their days, because they certainly don’t spend their time actually learning about issues – I feel I’m usually more informed than they are, despite having a totally unrelated day job. And the fact that they just see politics as a game means that nobody in their right mind should be watching or reading them.
So if these TikTok stars actually give a damn, then way better for Psaki to spend some time with them than to put up with the idiocy of the WH Press Corpse yet one more time.
Wag
@NotMax: Too late for caution. Caution allows Putin the time he needs.
James E Powell
@Ohio Mom:
Remember the blogger ethics panels?
lowtechcyclist
Fantasizing about Psaki is certainly normal and healthy. If fantasizing about her responses to the Press Corpse is your particular kink, well, I’m not gonna kink-shame you.
lowtechcyclist
@James E Powell: Oh lord, yes. Those bloggers could be just anybody, so we’ve got to some elevated ethical standard that the MSM would never hold itself to.
Kay
I wish they had started it earlier. They’re inundated with “Joe Biden is impaired” video clips. The clips are chopped and the sound is edited – Biden sounds drunk. They do the same thing to Pelosi- slow it down to make it sound like she’s slurring. I know Biden doesn’t drink and I don’t think Pelosi does either- it’s just pure propoganda.
Soprano2
@lowtechcyclist: I’m often surprised to find that I know more about a subject being talked about on the 1A “week in the news” segment than the reporters on the show! It’s pretty frustrating.
jonas
To be fair, when I saw the headline on this post, I thought it *was* referring to the WH press corps.
Another Scott
@bjacques: The overtly political stuff on SNL is driving me to geezerhood. I was thinking that they would get their act together and actually do the work of making the audience think on seeing Kate’s “Hallelujah” in 2016. But, they reverted to form.
The mumbling guy playing Biden is awful. “Hur, hur, he’s old!!11one”
But, SNL has always been wildly uneven.
Good for Biden’s comms people for doing what they can to talk to people where they are.
Cheers,
Scott.
Frankensteinbeck
@lowtechcyclist:
I obviously can’t speak with authority, but I’m pretty sure that when they’re not actively presenting, pundits spend a lot of time researching their topics. They go to events and socialize with the elected Republicans they admire for their ability to spew friendly bullshit. They feel super privileged as they have conversations with their secret behind-the-scenes sources who once had some connection with government and can be trusted to tell the pundit what they want to hear. They listen to lots of boring press statements and tune out everything but the fun sound bites, or even better tell some assistant to do it who knows what the pundit wants to hear. They ask for opinions of the Real Americans in their Rolodex, who tend to be professional Republican activists. They check Twitter trends. They do lots and lots of talking to each other, and since they are wise, savvy sages of American journalism, this is the most important analysis they can seek out. A lot of this can be done while golfing or hanging out at their favorite restaurants.
RAM
TikTok. A “dominant” news source. I think civilization has lost the thread.
lee
I’ve paying attention to the volunteers in Ukraine and it seems some have pulled back to Poland. With Russia being able to slowly get command of the air and the bombing of that training base some have decided it was best to help with the refugee crisis in Poland.
Ruckus
@RAM:
It’s possible but ask the question – Is it better than the press corpse that shows up and asks inane questions that a 6 yr old wouldn’t ask because they actually know better and more? Or are they trying (and failing) to set the narrative because they have brains resembling 2 week old cold mashed potatoes?
Either question gets the same answer in the case of the large media press corpse.
VOR
@Kay: And yet they think TFG is all there mentally. There was a meme on Facebook saying “The US right now is the perfect example of what can quickly happen to a prosperous business when you hire all the wrong people.” My MAGA FIL posted in agreement “so true” and that “one party wants to rule or ruin”.
Somehow they think this applies to Biden and not Trump. I have no idea what color the sky is in their world.
StringOnAStick
If the people who watch TikTok are getting tons of anti-Biden and anti-D propaganda, then engaging with top TikTok people to give them accurate content to at least balance and counter that is brilliant. Because someone else is already giving them pro-Putin, pro-R propaganda, and has the funds to make sure it is everywhere young people are, as Kay has said. I don’t get that propaganda pushed to me on YouTube or elsewhere because what I watch there obviously marks me as not of the targeted age group, but I know it is out there only because of what Kay has reported.
We know that if we can get young people to vote, the D’s win; the R’s know that too. All this targeted crap to feed them disinformation and create cynicism is to get them to vote R or, if that doesn’t work, to not vote at all. This is a brilliant initiative by the Biden administration and tells me there are younger people in the administration who obviously understand this. As an example, I was initially not a Hillary fan, at all, and I now know it was because I was consuming too much far left online media, which I did out of a strong affinity for fairness and leveling the economic playing field (until I realized how online carping is a lot different than action). Becoming addicted to Balloon Juice is what turned me away from the far lefties and into what I consider a true liberal and a strong Hillary supporter when the election came around; it is ALL about information sources because humans want to feel like they belong to a affinity group(s), and obviously the Biden people get that. TikTok is the affinity group sphere for young people, and we need them to both give a damn and to recognize that voting is the only way the masses can affect policies they care about.
RaflW
“one of President Biden’s underrated gifts is that he genuinely likes people”
The contrast with another Democrat named Joe is striking. Manchin seems to focus on all the ways he can be an asshole to people. This week he’s decided that electric cars are gonna have power problems akin to the gas pump lines of the 70s (I can’t make it make sense).
You’d think a coal-state guy would want to see electricity demand surge faster than utilities can build solar, wind and nat gas generation. But he’s just a reactionary who occasionally votes the “D” line.
eta: I guess he’s suddenly banking on a coal-to-gasoline plant. Which, of course, would be an epic climate change disaster.
Ruckus
@VOR:
I have no idea what color the sky is in their world.
Their sky is green.
The color of money.
It for sure isn’t any shade of blue.