Ever since I started covering the VTubing industry in April, I’ve been thinking a lot about my counterparts on Twitch, YouTube, and Twitter. News VTubers, or “newstubers,” are VTubers who discuss the VTubing industry’s current events, at times giving their own personal opinion on matters. If I’m the legacy media version of a VTuber reporter, then they’re the New Media iteration. Much as I love what I do, I personally believe they are the future of news reporting about VTubing. I can’t compete with an anime girl doing my job over YouTube or Twitch.
Newstubing has gotten particularly popular within VTubing. The appeal is obvious: Why let an outsider comment on something when one of your own has the inside scoop? Many newstubers have thus popped up over the past five years, some of which with massive followings. Mythic Talent’s FalseEyeD, Rima Evenstar, and Mujin come to mind immediately, although they’re just the tip of the iceberg. See Lidia Nekozawa, Officer Erundel, and VTuber Academia’s Elara, just to name a few more. And all this isn’t even mentioning the “dramatuber,” newstubers who throw out low-quality commentary videos discussing drama for clicks. I’ll refrain from naming specifics here to avoid feeding the beast.
As I mentioned in my story on Zentreya’s massive Twitch popularity, I believe the newstuber is a net positive for the VTubing industry. The best newstubers have an encyclopedic knowledge of the VTubing landscape, providing additional context and background information to an audience that sees them as “one of their own.” I honestly think the larger journalism landscape is sleeping on the newstuber phenomenon, failing to give these journalists the credit they’re due. Unfortunately, I also believe newstubers are not given adequate journalistic support, forced instead to grapple with content creation’s highs and lows as if they were regular VTubers. But they’re not regular VTubers. They’re journalists.
I’ve been a journalist in digital media since the early 2010s, when I first started writing for my college newspaper. Based on my experience in digital journalism, I’d like to outline the biggest problem I see in newstubing, and how I think newstubers can gain support against it. Support that, if obtained, would really let newstubing shine as a future model for journalism in an era increasingly rejecting written media. The following is my point of view, and this story should be understood as a personal opinion piece.
Independence: The double-edged sword
For a news reporter, independence is a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, all of your content is self-directed. There is no “man upstairs” deciding what articles should or shouldn’t run; there’s no limit to what you can cover. You control your destiny, and you decide what to discuss. In contemporary digital media, this is a major issue. Money is drying up, businesses are closing, and the few remaining companies are trying to keep their publications afloat by actively directing editorial content’s focus. Hence, the emergence of SEO slop. But if you’re an independent journalist? You’re a free spirit.
Unfortunately, while newstubers theoretically have the independence to cover whatever they wish, they still have a boss: their viewers. At this point, VTubing revenue is primarily fueled by an adoring (if not parasocial) fanbase. Income from Patreon subscriptions, YouTube Memberships, Twitch subs and bits, merchandise sales, and partnership code redeems — each and every one of these revenue sources is fueled by a happy viewership. If your viewers like you, they’ll spend. If they don’t like something you’ve done, they may leave.
This is fine if you’re a VTuber who plays video games or creates ASMR content. You’re an entertainer. But newstubing isn’t necessarily entertainment. I mean, it can be. But if the ultimate goal of a newstuber is to report on the news, and a newstuber’s income is determined based on viewer enjoyment, then newstubers may avoid covering certain stories to keep their viewership happy. Doubly so if their fans de facto lean toward certain political beliefs or values, left or right, close to center, or otherwise.
Does a newstuber entertain, or do they report the news?
For most news-oriented streamers and YouTubers outside of VTubing, “viewership enjoyment” isn’t necessarily a problem. Most viewers will generally disagree with their favorite creators now and again. But because VTubing is a growing niche, VTuber fans have very strong opinions about the industry’s agencies, performers, and cultural issues. One “bad take” can be a black mark on an entire newstuber’s career. To maintain their popularity and reputation, newstubers may outright avoid discussing certain stories. On the internet, sometimes the only winning move is not to play.
I feel for these newstubers. The job of a journalist isn’t to make people happy. It’s to report on relevant and important events based on factual information. As the old adage goes, “dog bites man” isn’t newsworthy, but “man bites dog” is. But if you’re a viewership-funded journalist, and your audience would hate hearing that a man bit a dog? If simply acknowledging the reality of man-biting-dog behavior would cost you cash? That’s a problem. I mean, sure, no one is owed a YouTube Membership or Twitch subscription. But when your viewers write your paycheck, your capacity to report on the news is curtailed by their biases. This can sway a newstuber’s approach on what to cover (or if they cover a story at all).
Journalists are not meant to be popular; they are meant to be necessary. What they offer is a public service. At one point or another, every single journalist has written a story that’s upset their own readers. These journalists file their drafts anyway because they believe the truth is more important than being liked. But in VTubing, being well-liked is a financial necessity. Short-term popularity is tied to long-term income. Thus, if you know a story might upset your viewers, you might squelch it to maintain your income.
To be clear, I’m not saying that every newstuber struggles with bias, nor am I pointing to a specific newstuber by saying so. Rather, I’m simply pointing out that the cards are stacked against newstubers, and they may give in to their audience’s bias from time to time. The pressure to pander is always there. And all this isn’t even discussing the “access journalism” nature of newstubing, where newstubers may feel pressure to avoid controversies regarding major agencies (such as Nijisanji or Hololive) to prevent corporations from blacklisting them. This can be a particularly challenging issue for smaller newstubers, who are still building their source rolodex.
turning newstubing into a news business
I’d like to propose an idea here. It might be good, it might be bad, it might be mediocre. I claim no ownership of it (so if Fishman wants to branch out from running a coffee company and into media, be my guest). Anyway, here it is: I think newstubers should be able to join a salary-based agency, where each newstuber is given support for their reporting through a proper editorial team.
What do I mean? Newstubers would work with news editors. A managing editor would host daily meetings to talk about topics of conversation that newstubers might have missed, and newstubers could use this opportunity to pitch core topics for coverage (or spitball ideas for videos and streams). Newstubers would work on scripts and stream outlines, have them proofed by editors, and receive direct guidance from their news editor as needed. If you need the help, it’s always a DM away.
The editorial team would also have a project management system (akin to Trello or Asana) to pitch stories to discuss, collect information, and check in with editors about approach or deadlines. This would give newstubers an immediate competitive advantage for breaking stories like “Zentreya leaves VShojo,” as they would have drafts written ahead of time, along with background information on a specific agency or VTuber already on hand. Fact-checkers would also be hired to help newstubers with confirming information, and video editors and clippers would help VTubers with creating video work in a timely manner. There would also be a legal team available to help newstubers with looking over drafts or fielding post-reporting complaints.
Under this model, the agency would offer each VTuber a salary that was weighted based on (but not innately determined by) VTuber revenue and average viewership numbers. Every VTuber would have a basic starting salary floor to work off of, with more established VTubers receiving more. Promotions would be yearly, with payment rising based on reporting quality and overall channel performance. The agency would offer benefits like paid time off and health insurance. As well as a marketing and illustration team for increasing newstubers’ visibility. Newstubers’ channel revenue would help pay for editorial’s salaries. VTubers would be welcome to engage in variety content under the agency, and the legal team would help VTubers engage in contract negotiations with sponsors and partners.
Most importantly, this model would still prioritize the editorial freedom of the VTuber. Newstubers are free to discuss whatever they wish, with editors judging based on the quality of the pitch as it pertains to facts, logic, and claims. Community managers and moderators would help with navigating comments on Twitter, YouTube, and Twitch, and editors would help with fielding tips. The newstuber agency would thus diminish bias from audience pressure by serving as a buffer. If a newstuber wanted to report on a subject that may be controversial with their fanbase? They’re given the freedom to do so without worrying about the bag. They can be genuine with their audience, as the agency pays them, not fans. Long-term, this would allow newstubers to gain viewers based on their trustworthiness, not because they verify the biases of their viewers.
I, too, wish we could live in a perfect world
I understand what I’m suggesting may be rejected as a silly fantasy. It may be too expensive. It may not be financially viable long-term. There may not be enough investment to keep this kind of agency afloat. Or income from audience revenue may still insert bias into coverage over time. Also, there are issues beyond “audience bias” that newstubers grapple with on the daily, issues that a journalistic agency would not fix. For example, access journalism in VTubing seems here to stay, as everyone wants to stay in the good graces of the biggest corporations and VTubers. Then there’s the fact that VTubing is massively connected and incredibly tight-knit. Everyone has an opinion on everyone: Love, hate, or something in between. I doubt that will go away.
But journalism is something I strongly believe in. Whether it’s written by a woman at home in her pajamas, or spoken by an anime girl who looks like a horse. It is my strongly held belief that newstubers are a net positive in the space. That their New Media approach is the future. I want them to receive the same level of support that journalists like myself have traditionally enjoyed across their careers. News VTubers deserve a team behind them to support them, helping them publish the best reporting possible. A newstuber agency would free newstubers from worrying too much about putting out a “bad take,” and instead allow them to be genuine and forthright in their approach.
Could we see something like this one day? I don’t know. But it would be nice. And it would give us silly old-school digital media journalists a run for our money. That too.
The post For VTubers Who Cover the News, Something Is Missing. I Think I Know What It Is appeared first on VICE.
