the latest news wearing sunglasses and a wig?

I have to look twice. On my phone, a boy crosses the screen in a hysterical montage, first dressed as a judge, including the robe, then – poof! — as President Joe Biden, behind thick sunglasses. ABBA rings in the background. But it is there: this video, on the social media platform TikTok, was made by The Washington Postthe more than one hundred and forty-year-old American newspaper known for its balanced reporting and somewhat boring character.

If you scroll through TikTok these days, you’ll come across more logs: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Dallas Morning News, The LA Times. In July even launched the rock-solid intellectual journal Economists her own TikTok adventure: “We promise not to show any dance videos,” the editors joked.

TikTok is the most popular kids app in the world and no self-respecting American media can afford to ignore it. More than a quarter of American adults under 30 say they get their news from TikTok these days, according to a study by the Pew Research Center.

At first, TikTok mainly revolved around dance videos and comedy sketches. Entertainment then. That changed during the pandemic. The teenagers, who spent all day at home on their phones, shared their worries and thoughts about the world on TikTok. Gradually, traditional newspapers were removed from the application. Many young Americans now prefer to use TikTok as a search engine rather than Google.

Authoritarian regime

The popularity of the Chinese company also raises concerns. Some Americans wonder aloud whether it makes sense for reputable newspapers to do journalism on an app that follows the rules of an authoritarian regime with no freedom of the press.

Last month, Republican Senator Marco Rubio called for a ban on TikTok in the United States. He does not trust the intentions of the Chinese company. What if the company collects data from, among other things, “journalists they have views on,” he wrote in an opinion piece in The Washington Post. Media scientist Michael Socolow previously warned in Political magazine that journalists should not promote a platform “that has a history of political censorship”.

Traditional newspapers may choose to stay away from an app that has 3 billion users worldwide. Or they can influence the conversation on TikTok by playing the game. Most US newspapers seem to opt for the latter. Although it is done in a different way than they were accustomed to for centuries.

Whitened teeth

The new faces of America’s media landscape are not dusty investigative journalists or classic news anchors with stylish haircuts and bleached teeth, as we know them from CNN and Fox News, but busy young people with tousled hair. who tell what is happening in the world in short videos. . They do everything for it. Literally: sunglasses, ties, wigs.

Like the video of Chris Vazquez, one of the youngest faces of The Washington Post on TikTok, who dressed up as a judge and then as Biden: In this one, Vazquez explains the news that a Texas judge torpedoed Biden’s plans to cancel student debt. A complicated story, explained in less than a minute.

TikTok videos don’t immediately make money for newspapers. With the videos, they hope to generate brand awareness among a new young American. One and a half million users are now following The Washington Post on TikTok. “We are a newspaper,” says the bone-dry profile. The big question, of course, is whether all of these young people on TikTok understand exactly what they mean by that.

Maral Noshad Sharifi is a New York correspondent.