TikTok Stars on the Politicians Begging Them for Exposure

What happens when TikTokers replace TV hosts and interviewers, and presidential candidates start begging to be on their shows?

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 our 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.

Guests:

• Julian Shapiro-Barnum, Recess Therapy

• Caleb Simpson gets millions of views asking people how much they pay for their rent in New York City

• Jack Coyne, Track Star

• Anania Williams, Gaydar

Propagandist? Truth teller? Influencer? Question Everything unravels the contested work of journalists and the moral complexities surrounding the stories that impact us all.