Influencer or Journalist?
/I lot of you know this, but some of you might not.
When you see someone on social media with a large following, companies reach out to those people to get a “shoutout” on their channel.
A company will ask the person what they charge and you might be surprised at the dollar figure they get.
Some influencers charge $10,000 or more for a single Instagram post. They’ll charge over $5,000 for an IG story.
Think about that for a second, if they post just 3 shoutouts a week, the influencer can make over $30,000 for the week.
Crazy right?
It can be a great gig, but obviously you have to grow your channel into thousands and even millions of followers to bank the big bucks.
But, that is not trying to stop people working in TV news from trying to get into that game.
Look at a station like Nexstar’s KTLA (Los Angeles) and you will find some on-air talent also trying to be influencers as a side hustle.
For example, look at KTLA Anchor Liberté Chan. She has over 70,000 on her IG, which is a lot but is tiny in the influencer world, but that doesn’t mean she’s not trying.
Many of her post tag companies whose product she is wearing, or using in the picture.
Now, is she getting paid by the companies, or getting free product? That we don’t know, but she is sure trying to act and look like an influencer.
Back in March, KTLA General Manager Janine Graff told the staff in a meeting, "you're either an Instagram model or you are a journalist you are not both.” Yet, it seems that despite the staff being told over and over, they ignore management and still do it.
Many Anchors are being reached out to by companies that want then to wear their line of clothes on air and they will either pay them or give them free clothes.
As a Journalist, this violates the payola/plugola policy.
It is long past time that stations crackdown on this and brings credibility back into the newsroom.
Graff is right, either you’re an influencer or a Journalist, but you can’t be both.
Now, let’s hope she does something about it.
