Generation TikTok takes news into a digital future
Emma Ruben’s journalism career is just nine months old, but the 24-year-old already has a clear idea about where the future of the industry lies.
Emma Ruben’s journalism career is just nine months old, but the 24-year-old already has a clear idea about where the future of the industry lies.
Perth-based Ruben, who works for The National Indigenous Times, says media outlets will be quickly left behind if they fail to engage and communicate with younger generations on their terms.
“Plenty of my friends get their news completely through social media, and I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing,” she says.
“Going forward, people are going to need the news to come to them (through their social media accounts), rather than them going to the news.”
Ruben, who started with the NIT in March this year, believes that most members of Gen Z (18-27s) feel disconnected from traditional media but when, and if, they do engage with mainstream news, it is usually via Instagram or TikTok — and once they’re reached, they are keen to be immersed in the issues of the day.
“I think there’s still this misconception that news is only for older established adults who’ve got their life together, or that true journalism is perhaps only in written form, be that in print or in digital.
“But I think that idea needs to go out the window. News should be video storytelling, vertical storytelling, it should be all over social media, especially on TikTok. Being Gen Z, it’s something I’m really passionate about.
“Newsrooms should embrace the idea that TikTok and Instagram are ways of sharing news — the more that people discount those platforms, the less of an audience they are going to reach.
“If you’re not doing your very best to garner the largest audience possible, you’re doing something wrong.”
Ruben, who is keen to specialise in the fields of fashion and entertainment reporting, was selected earlier this year to be among the first cohort of journalists to be enrolled at the Digital News Academy — a world-first joint training initiative established in January by News Corp Australia and Google. The program, which is run by the Melbourne Business School (the University of Melbourne’s graduate school in business and economics), includes specific tutorials in data journalism, in-depth online investigative reporting, the effective operation of social media channels, podcasting and the targeting of specific audience segments.
Ruben says the DNA is “filling a gap in the journalism industry”, insofar as it is equipping modern newsrooms and media professionals with the tools they need to deliver their work to the widest-possible audience.
“We’re all learning new things. It’s been refreshing to see journos who have been in the industry for 10, 20 or 30 years and they’re like, ‘oh wow, I didn’t know that, I didn’t know you could do that’,” she said.
The NIT sent Ruben to Europe and New York this year to report on Indigenous fashion designers who were presenting their collections on the world stage.
Ruben helped created a TikTok video with NIT colleagues while in New York, which has attracted more than 100,000 views to date, while one of her Instagram reels from the same assignment amassed more than 10,000 views.
“And NIT now has created a space for itself in the TikTok sphere, and on Instagram reels as well,” she said.
Acting NIT editor Giovanni Torre said: “The success of the DNA program has furthered the National Indigenous Times’ digital storytelling aspirations.”
The NIT, which is independently co-owned by Indigenous businessmen Wayne Bergmann and Clinton Wolf, publishes online every day and produces print editions on the last Tuesday and Wednesday of each month. The print version of the NIT appears as an insert in News Corp’s state-based titles on the Wednesday, and in The West Australian on the Tuesday.
The DNA currently has 230 journalists from 27 different news organisations across Australia participating in the program. It’s expected that 750 journalists will have completed the course by the end of 2024, according to DNA director Sonja Heydeman.
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