NJ News Influencers Fill Gaps, But Original Reporting Lags

News influencers are increasingly becoming a primary source of information for many individuals, with a new study from the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University examining the landscape of local news influencers in New Jersey. Researchers Carrie Brown, Tara George, and Yi Luo employed a combination of AI tools, custom coding, and qualitative interviews to analyze metrics such as relevance to New Jersey audiences, content types, and communication strategies. The study's interactive report, themed around highways, highlighted several key findings regarding the nature and impact of these influencers.

Approximately half of the analyzed posts, specifically 49.8%, were found to be highly specific to New Jersey audiences. The study's authors noted that this specificity suggests a deliberate choice by these creators to cover topics relevant to the local community, thereby addressing some of the reporting voids left by traditional news outlets. However, a significant portion of their output did not fall into traditional news categories. Only about one in four posts, a combined 24.4%, were classified as news, opinion, or educational content. The most prevalent content types identified were "lifestyle" at 31.8%, followed by "promotion" at 24.2%. The categorization of content proved to be a point of discussion, as AI models generally agreed on classifications, but human coders sometimes differed, indicating the fluid nature of content produced by news influencers.

Furthermore, the majority of influencers studied do not identify as journalists, despite covering topics that local newspapers historically would have reported on, such as local sports, restaurants, and community events. The study indicates that these influencers are not consistently filling the reporting gap created by the decline of local newspapers. The authors observed that "most influencers produce opinion and commentary content rather than original investigative reporting." Instead of breaking new stories, they tend to react to and contextualize existing news, functioning as "information brokers" who amplify, curate, and add local perspective to coverage that originates elsewhere. The study also noted inconsistencies in the attribution of original sources for the information they share, further distinguishing their role from traditional journalistic practices that emphasize rigorous sourcing and verification.