Economics
The rise of the TikTok news anchor
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“BREAKING NEWS: it looks like there is some weird stuff going on in America.” Welcome to the news on TikTok. Before we dwell on how and when it is appropriate to start a sentence with “breaking news”, let’s cross now to our correspondent, who is a cartoon fish, with a story about a “Potential Diabetes Cure!” (3.4m views). Next, “News Daddy” (a boy called Dylan) will read out details of a hotel explosion in Texas to some of his 10.3m followers, thankfully from the safety of his home studio in Britain; “Nah 2024 needs to chill…i need some sleep,” the description reads. In our final segment, a college student is primed to run through the pages of the New York Times (the Iowa caucus is “just tea, it’s gossip”).
Each of these videos comes from a cohort of amateur anchors who take the business of delivering the news extremely seriously. They are the presenters, researchers and producers rolled into one. Their uploads on everything from product recalls to the war in Gaza caricature traditional news reports, aggregate them—and compete with them. News Daddy’s follower count exceeds that of the flagship TikTok accounts of the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Daily Mail combined. The handful of influencers your correspondent (who is not a cartoon fish) met have over half a billion likes on all of their videos between them.
“I’m more interested in watching someone who’s fun to watch than a stuffy monotone news reporter,” says Alex Kellerman, who dresses up as a bedraggled anchor every day to film a roundup of the “f*ckin’ news” (“I give you news…but always do your own research and fact-checking!”). He says the format found overnight success after he “accidentally” uploaded a test video in September about lethal flooding in Libya, using details from mainstream outlets covering the disaster on other parts of the internet. Mr Kellerman doesn’t describe himself as a journalist, but he claims to have been “one of the first people to report [the story] on TikTok”.
And that’s what matters, because in 2020, 9% of Americans aged between 18 and 29 told a Pew poll that they regularly got their news on the platform; by 2023 that number had risen to 32% (see chart). Capturing this generation’s attention is a delicate balance: “It has to be short, it has to be fast,” says Jessica Burbank, a creator and freelance journalist who has grown a loyal Gen Z audience through “translating” the biggest stories of the week to them by “taking away all of the nonsense”.
Large follower counts are giving creators the chance to build upon existing stories. “People almost have this false sense of respect for you or something. It’s odd,” notes Julie Urquhart, who says the popularity of her crime and celebrity-news account has helped her land interviews with people linked to the stories she makes her videos about. “I think because you’re on social media, not, you know, like a news person who’s going to twist things maybe.”
Free from the constraints of editorial processes and executive boards, news creators believe their appeal lies in a quality that mainstream outlets lack: authenticity. “Most traditional news is devoid of emotion,” reckons Josh Helfgott, who has earned the attention of millions of followers making clips about LGBT news stories. “I believe that what catches my audience’s attention is when they see my passion behind the story.” Publishers around the world are all too aware of this shift; over half of those recently surveyed by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism said that they plan to devote more effort into putting stories on TikTok this year.
Before everyone starts workshopping ways to deliver the news in a chill and relatable lilt, take a moment for some optimism. As Gallup reports the lowest amount of trust in American mass media since 2016, it seems that creators have merely figured out how to tune people back in to news stories that outlets have been reporting on the whole time, just in ways that feel more relevant and real to young internet users. That can be a good thing. So long as you choose not to think too much about comments that read, “I get my news from him, and the fish”.
With a busy election year ahead, TikTok newscasters will have much to work with. Expect to see many more of them co-opting the headlines to increase their followings, be the first to post about it, entertain people, ask why no one is talking about a thing, go viral—and spread the news. ■
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Production at the VW plant in Emden.
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The struggling German economy has been a major talking point among critics of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’ government during the latest election campaign — but analysts warn a new leadership might not turn these tides.
As voters prepare to head to the polls, it is now all but certain that Germany will soon have a new chancellor. The Christian Democratic Union’s Friedrich Merz is the firm favorite.
Merz has not shied away from blasting Scholz’s economic policies and from linking them to the lackluster state of Europe’s largest economy. He argues that a government under his leadership would give the economy the boost it needs.
Experts speaking to CNBC were less sure.
“There is a high risk that Germany will get a refurbished economic model after the elections, but not a brand new model that makes the competition jealous,” Carsten Brzeski, global head of macro at ING, told CNBC.
The CDU/CSU economic agenda
The CDU, which on a federal level ties up with regional sister party the Christian Social Union, is running on a “typical economic conservative program,” Brzeski said.
It includes income and corporate tax cuts, fewer subsidies and less bureaucracy, changes to social benefits, deregulation, support for innovation, start-ups and artificial intelligence and boosting investment among other policies, according to CDU/CSU campaigners.
“The weak parts of the positions are that the CDU/CSU is not very precise on how it wants to increase investments in infrastructure, digitalization and education. The intention is there, but the details are not,” Brzeski said, noting that the union appears to be aiming to revive Germany’s economic model without fully overhauling it.
“It is still a reform program which pretends that change can happen without pain,” he said.
Geraldine Dany-Knedlik, head of forecasting at research institute DIW Berlin, noted that the CDU is also looking to reach gross domestic product growth of around 2% again through its fiscal and economic program called “Agenda 2030.”
But reaching such levels of economic expansion in Germany “seems unrealistic,” not just temporarily, but also in the long run, she told CNBC.
Germany’s GDP declined in both 2023 and 2024. Recent quarterly growth readings have also been teetering on the verge of a technical recession, which has so far been narrowly avoided. The German economy shrank by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, compared with the previous three-month stretch, according to the latest reading.
Europe’s largest economy faces pressure in key industries like the auto sector, issues with infrastructure like the country’s rail network and a housebuilding crisis.
Dany-Knedlik also flagged the so-called debt brake, a long-standing fiscal rule that is enshrined in Germany’s constitution, which limits the size of the structural budget deficit and how much debt the government can take on.
Whether or not the clause should be overhauled has been a big part of the fiscal debate ahead of the election. While the CDU ideally does not want to change the debt brake, Merz has said that he may be open to some reform.
“To increase growth prospects substantially without increasing debt also seems rather unlikely,” DIW’s Dany-Knedlik said, adding that, if public investments were to rise within the limits of the debt brake, significant tax increases would be unavoidable.
“Taking into account that a 2 Percent growth target is to be reached within a 4 year legislation period, the Agenda 2030 in combination with conservatives attitude towards the debt break to me reads more of a wish list than a straight forward economic growth program,” she said.
Franziska Palmas, senior Europe economist at Capital Economics, sees some benefits to the plans of the CDU-CSU union, saying they would likely “be positive” for the economy, but warning that the resulting boost would be small.
“Tax cuts would support consumer spending and private investment, but weak sentiment means consumers may save a significant share of their additional after-tax income and firms may be reluctant to invest,” she told CNBC.
Palmas nevertheless pointed out that not everyone would come away a winner from the new policies. Income tax cuts would benefit middle- and higher-income households more than those with a lower income, who would also be affected by potential reductions of social benefits.
Coalition talks ahead
Following the Sunday election, the CDU/CSU will almost certainly be left to find a coalition partner to form a majority government, with the Social Democratic Party or the Green party emerging as the likeliest candidates.
The parties will need to broker a coalition agreement outlining their joint goals, including on the economy — which could prove to be a difficult undertaking, Capital Economics’ Palmas said.
“The CDU and the SPD and Greens have significantly different economic policy positions,” she said, pointing to discrepancies over taxes and regulation. While the CDU/CSU want to reduce both items, the SPD and Greens seek to raise taxes and oppose deregulation in at least some areas, Palmas explained.
The group is nevertheless likely to hold the power in any potential negotiations as it will likely have their choice between partnering with the SPD or Greens.
“Accordingly, we suspect that the coalition agreement will include most of the CDU’s main economic proposals,” she said.
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