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Modern-day e-journalists have repeatedly and overtly sabotaged YouTubers' income over petty nonsense, yet remain baffled why independent creators don't trust them.
In 2017, reporters from the Wall Street Journal instigated an ad-boycott which resulted in many channels losing upwards of 80% of their revenue for weeks.
The cause? A coke ad on an offensive Johnny Rebel song with a handful of views. A video that was clearly manually-
The cause? A coke ad on an offensive Johnny Rebel song with a handful of views. A video that was clearly manually-
monetized by a music conglomerate like WMG, yet this fact was completely overlooked by reporters doing their supposed "due diligence". Thousands of creators were punished from this sloppy reporting.
In 2019, dozens of publications rushed to pump out articles platforming Mattswhatitis; a fringe ranting lunatic with no credentials, publishing his flimsy claims of YouTube "doing nothing" about pedos in the sites' comment sections. No reporter bothered to even interview him.
More than a year later I, myself, actually had to do the dirty work of piecing together what really happened because the "journalistic" coverage of the actual event was so poor. Again, this sloppy reporting resulted in YouTubers unfairly losing revenue.
There are countless other examples of reporters bungling stories about YouTube/YouTubers, but these are two of the most egregious and destructive. Suffice to say, it's not tough to see why many YouTubers view journalists as an outright nuisance.
Beyond the very real damage they have done to us, there's a general perception among YouTubers that journalists conduct themselves with a "holier than thou" attitude. You don't have to look far on this site for example to witness reporters acting pompous and condescending.
It certainly doesn't help that this perception is being actively upheld by major platforms. In 2018, YouTube extended special privileges to mainstream news corporations. This was at a time when many independent creators were facing daily challenges with demonetization.
To the current day, mainstream news is systemically promoted in YouTube search results, even from networks that produce outright propaganda like CNN and Fox News. This is somehow supposed to make us trust the media more?
and not to mention on this site, how 1K follower reporters from http://whogivesafuck.biz get instantly verified, while million-subscriber YouTubers get the cold shoulder. It's hard to feel sympathy for journalists when the most powerful companies go out of their way to pamper them
Anyone who watches me knows that I don't exactly have the highest opinion of journalists, so make of that bias what you will. However, I would prefer if the general relationship between YouTubers and reporters wasn't so antagonistic. It's a pain in the ass for both sides.
I and many other YouTubers are willing to work with journalists if they would simply allow it to happen. I've tried to reach out to many while researching past projects and have been met with nothing but radio silence.
It takes two to cooperate, and perhaps if reporters showed YouTubers a little more respect and stepped out of their insular bubbles, we could finally take steps towards moving past these hostilities.
