Jake Shane Is Why Influencers Need to Stop Being Treated Like Journalists
Why are influencers supplanting critics? The growing gulf between the pair is becoming an ocean.
“Journalism is Fucked and We’re All Doomed” is my ongoing column looking at issues affecting entertainment journalism writers.
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If your algorithm was spitting out Oscar-related videos to you after Sunday night like mine was then you probably saw influencer Jake Shane talking to celebrities at Vanity Fair's after-party. Or, more specifically, you saw celebrities struggle to find a way to talk to Shane as he continuously engaged in a bit about his hatred for the (Oscar-nominated) film If I Had Legs I'd Kick You that saw him yelling a lot.
I had never seen any of Shane's videos prior to Sunday, but unlike other situations where this happened, it garnered attention. The interviews caught the eye of Variety who dropped a piece with the pretty blunt headline: "Jake Shane’s Questions at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party Prove Influencers Shouldn’t Be Red Carpet Reporters." As my headline says, I'd take things a step further: Jake Shane's questions prove why influencers shouldn't be treated like journalists.
This is nothing new if you've read The Film Maven for awhile. Nearly half of the pieces in my "Journalism Is Fucked and We're All Doomed" series is about the encroachment of influencers into journalistic spaces. But looking at the social media interaction showed a marked divide between content creators justifying Shane's reason for being at the show (or otherwise supporting him) and non-influencers and journalists discussing how his interviews only continue to erode actual entertainment journalism. So, let's talk about it.
I did a several part thread on social laying out that Jake Shane is part of a multi-pronged problem. Really, influencers aren't 100% to blame for things like this happening. There's a lot of other arms that are complicit in how influencers came to supplant entertainment journalists and critics.
