The death of the journalist: Is journalism becoming a dying art in the hands of unqualified influencers?
By Sabahat Baig, December 17 2025—
Journalists are at the forefront of all published news, whether it be printed, digital or spoken. So why is it that at significant red carpet events, qualified journalists are being replaced by popular influencers?
This profession has been in decline for many years, with many companies having to lay off workers because there’s simply no space for aspiring journalists. Journalism is an expensive degree with little forgiveness when it comes to the job market, regardless of if you’ve received an MA or not. There are few jobs to be offered, making getting in very competitive and reliant on having connections or previous experience; in other words, it is nearly impossible for most.
Based on testimonies from young journalists, if you’re lucky, you’ll be offered an internship — usually unpaid — and if you’re God’s favourite, you’ll be offered a position. But once you’re in, the pay isn’t too great and there’s always the fear of losing your job to someone better, AI programs and now, influencers.
The market has gotten so tight over the years that many writers take informal routes and branch away from big companies to instead establish a smaller outlet for themselves. Independent journalism has taken off in these unpredictable times, and there’s a mix of different reasons for this. Some have chosen this route to share niche news that big companies don’t care to report — most of which exposes exploitation and corruption silenced by authoritative figures in the political world — aiding in social reform that breaks away from conservative ideals and works towards liberation for all. Some have taken this route because of the rise of “fake news” in the media, full of propaganda aligning with government ideals, or the use of clickbait to reel in viewers without keeping good faith and delivering what consumers believe they are getting; the effect of people being bought by “red pill” campaigners whether they be political figures or billionaires like Elon Musk.
Journalists are crucial in the world of politics and social change, but when these complex jobs are given to misinformed influencers, or these topics are toyed with and viewed as a quick cash grab, humanity becomes unstable and dangerous.
It is also important to acknowledge who these jobs are going to, and this is where it becomes a racial issue; where binaries of all social stratas come out, and the favored voice — nine out of ten times — is white and wealthy.
However, there is a wide range of non-traditional, independent journalists doing good, substantive work, often connecting one-on-one with their audience to deliver unbiased news. In doing so, marginalized topics are often brought to light and considered, and diverse voices that are constantly under threat of going unheard or uncompensated are finally amplified. The act of supporting the voices of distinct journalists works to validate the struggles of underserved communities, combating deep rooted prejudice — the aftermath of oriental and racist worldviews — and offering an unfamiliar perspective on the world that plants the seeds of both empathy and justice within a consumer while demanding immediate change.
These reporters use outlets like Substack, Instagram and especially TikTok to connect to Millennial and Gen Z communities and share news in an entertaining and personal format. However, there seem to be a lot of blurred boundaries between certified journalists spreading news via social media and influencers utilizing their platform to take on a similar, yet crucially different role — often urging their audience to stay “woke” but also spreading misinformation amongst impressionable youth.
While the rise of influencer “journalists” is a broad issue, it is being distilled right now with the recent controversy surrounding influencers infiltrating Hollywood events.
Journalism is an art form in the same way film or fiction-writing is. It is a lengthy process of creation, including thinking, writing, creating, asking and answering. And yet, instead of bringing more journalists into the PR world for Hollywood events — and aiding in the shortage of jobs for aspiring writers — these media giants have shown that they prefer social media stars over qualified journals to conduct interviews and engage with the industry, primarily through the increase in sponsored invites.
My intention isn’t to bash those who have worked hard on building up social media profiles, and it’s true that many of these influencers reel in a larger audience than established journalists — I can understand the appeal. But to replace real journalism with catty podcasts and unserious Q&A sessions, actively stripping hardworking journalists of opportunities they’ve worked relentlessly for, is both wrong and harmful to the preservation of real art, especially when so many of these influencers’ “questions” are beginning to sound AI-generated.
We live for art and the humanities; they are food for the soul. But if we sacrifice the arts, we produce a gaping, unfillable hole in our society. Journalism is the bridge that unites the world, informing, educating and advocating for people and events that we would otherwise never know of. Social media can be a wonderful way to educate younger audiences who spend perhaps too much time on their phones, but as soon as careers start diminishing, workers start being stripped of their positions and their qualifications no longer get them anywhere, that’s when influencer “journalism” becomes a real issue that needs solving.
That time is now.
Overall, there is a certain professionalism and passion that influencers without a journalism degree or real experience lack. It’s very obvious, portrayed in the informal interviews they host and the lacklustre content they produce.
It is not necessarily the return of traditional journalism I crave at red carpet events, movie premieres and book launches, but real, authentic and genuine journalism that asks its subjects raw and provocative questions that need a moment’s reflection before answering.
Put simply, there’s just a lack of depth and connection in this new form which could be so easily remedied if organizers offered opportunities to those who are actually putting effort into breaking into this difficult industry. Journalism’s disadvantage isn’t in the quality of its work, but because industries aren’t providing a creative space for these writers to create, instead brushing them aside for people who are less qualified but more popular.
And if we want to effect any change from the bottom up, we all have to seriously consider the kind of content we’re consuming and who it benefits. Supporting real journalists takes a marginally higher effort than swiping through an automatically generated feed, but the effect it could have if we all make a change could be monumental.
This article is a part of our Opinions section and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Gauntlet editorial board.