TikTok Stars on the Politicians Begging Them for Exposure (From Question Everything)
The Sam Sanders Show
KCRW & Sam Sanders
4.9 • 709 Ratings
🗓️ 25 January 2026
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today we’re sharing an episode from KCRW’s Question Everything.
What happens when TikTokers replace TV hosts and interviewers, and presidential candidates start begging to be on their shows?
Question Everything host Brian Reed sits down in a Brooklyn wine shop with four of the internet’s biggest creators: Caleb Simpson, who gets people on the street to take him up to their apartments; Julian Shapiro-Barnum who interviews kids on Recess Therapy; Anania Williams of the LGBTQ quiz show Gaydar; and Jack Coyne, host of the music game show Track Star. Their videos reach more people than many major news outlets. But who gets control over what they run? When is money changing hands? What do they do when politicians like Kamala Harris and RFK Jr. come calling?
A frank conversation about the blurry grey area between this new form of entertainment and journalism.
Check out the Substack, with more reporting on the war over truth, free speech, and tech’s role in it all.
Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, it's Sam. Today we're bringing you a very special episode from our very special friends over at KCRW's Question Everything. |
| 0:08.8 | Question Everything is a podcast that asks, what is journalism anyway? And y'all, I ask that question all the time these days. |
| 0:16.5 | So in this episode of Question Everything, Brian and his guests ask a big question. |
| 0:22.4 | Can influencers do journalism? |
| 0:25.1 | Turns out they already are. |
| 0:26.6 | Brian in this episode, he sits down in a Brooklyn wine shop with four of the Internet's biggest creators. |
| 0:32.8 | Creators who aren't just influencing, they are interviewing political candidates and discussing hard news |
| 0:38.4 | in the midst of making content about all kinds of other stuff. |
| 0:42.3 | Their videos reach more people than many major news outlets. |
| 0:46.6 | But there are questions here. |
| 0:48.0 | Who gets control over what they run? |
| 0:50.1 | Who edits and fact checks them? |
| 0:52.0 | When is money changing hands? |
| 0:54.1 | And what do they do when politicians like Kamala Harris or RFK Jr. come calling? |
| 0:59.0 | This episode is a frank conversation about the blurry gray area |
| 1:02.6 | between this new form of entertainment and old school journalism. |
| 1:06.7 | And I think you'll enjoy it. |
| 1:08.5 | Here you go. |
| 1:16.6 | Thank you. And I think you'll enjoy it. Here you go. Jealousy Jealousy, resentment, admiration, how to describe the way I think plenty of journalists feel about a certain type of creator or influencer on social media. |
| 1:27.5 | Regular folks who've come up with some kind of schick for an interview, like eating progressively |
| 1:32.4 | spicier hot wings with an interviewee or going on a date with them in a chicken shop. |
| 1:37.0 | A bunch of people have made shows like this and then blown up on TikTok or YouTube or wherever. |
... |
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