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Twitch streamers become go-to news source for campus protest coverage
Twitch streamers become go-to news source for campus protest coverage
Live-streamers are amassing audiences through real-time coverage of student encampments and police crackdowns.
By Taylor Lorenz
May 5, 2024 at 1:40 p.m. EDT
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https://wapo.st/3y2WMp3
Streamers Morgan, left, and Bret Hamilton go live with Yness Riedel, media liaison for Students for Justice in Palestine at Chapman University in Orange, Calif. (Zaydee Sanchez for The Washington Post)
As hundreds of police officers descended on UCLA’s campus last week, Bret Hamilton, a 31-year-old Twitch streamer who covers news and politics, documented their every move. He trailed the officers as they barreled their way through pro-Palestinian student protesters who were protecting an encampment at the center of the campus. Thousands of people watched Hamilton’s stream live as he narrated the chaos. ... “People don’t trust the media to tell the truth about these things,” he told The Washington Post.
Hamilton is one of a growing number of professional live-streamers who have been covering the student protests on college campuses. These streamers, who operate on platforms that include TikTok and YouTube, but primarily Twitch, make up an alternative media network, not unlike cable news, with round-the-clock coverage of major protest developments, negotiations between students and administrators, and police crackdowns. Their streams provide an unfiltered account of the protests and have become a go-to source for thousands of young people who have lost faith in traditional news.
Twitch wasn’t always a place for news and political content. For years, content creators on the live-streaming app focused primarily on gaming and eschewed politics over fears that discussion of such topics would alienate viewers. But that culture changed in part after Hasan Piker, a progressive political commentator who had become a Facebook video star and gone viral as the internet’s “woke bae” joined the platform in 2018 and quickly rose to become one of the most popular creators. ... His hours-long streams offering political analysis and breaking down major news events began attracting a large audience of Gen Z and young millennial followers, who found his candid, frenetic style more appealing than more formal news anchors and mainstream reporters.
Bret Hamilton live-streams the student pro-Palestinian encampment at Chapman University. (Zaydee Sanchez for The Washington Post)
“There’s a huge need and huge demand for real-time journalism happening on the ground,” Piker said. “I see myself as a command center when live-streaming. When I’m not on the ground myself, I try to find others who are.”
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Tents adorned with art at the Chapman University protest encampment. (Zaydee Sanchez for The Washington Post)
Share
https://wapo.st/3y2WMp3
By Taylor Lorenz
Taylor Lorenz is a columnist at The Washington Post covering technology and online culture. Before joining The Post, she was a technology reporter for the New York Times. Previously, she was a technology reporter at the Atlantic and the Daily Beast.
Live-streamers are amassing audiences through real-time coverage of student encampments and police crackdowns.
By Taylor Lorenz
May 5, 2024 at 1:40 p.m. EDT
Share
https://wapo.st/3y2WMp3
Streamers Morgan, left, and Bret Hamilton go live with Yness Riedel, media liaison for Students for Justice in Palestine at Chapman University in Orange, Calif. (Zaydee Sanchez for The Washington Post)
As hundreds of police officers descended on UCLA’s campus last week, Bret Hamilton, a 31-year-old Twitch streamer who covers news and politics, documented their every move. He trailed the officers as they barreled their way through pro-Palestinian student protesters who were protecting an encampment at the center of the campus. Thousands of people watched Hamilton’s stream live as he narrated the chaos. ... “People don’t trust the media to tell the truth about these things,” he told The Washington Post.
Hamilton is one of a growing number of professional live-streamers who have been covering the student protests on college campuses. These streamers, who operate on platforms that include TikTok and YouTube, but primarily Twitch, make up an alternative media network, not unlike cable news, with round-the-clock coverage of major protest developments, negotiations between students and administrators, and police crackdowns. Their streams provide an unfiltered account of the protests and have become a go-to source for thousands of young people who have lost faith in traditional news.
Twitch wasn’t always a place for news and political content. For years, content creators on the live-streaming app focused primarily on gaming and eschewed politics over fears that discussion of such topics would alienate viewers. But that culture changed in part after Hasan Piker, a progressive political commentator who had become a Facebook video star and gone viral as the internet’s “woke bae” joined the platform in 2018 and quickly rose to become one of the most popular creators. ... His hours-long streams offering political analysis and breaking down major news events began attracting a large audience of Gen Z and young millennial followers, who found his candid, frenetic style more appealing than more formal news anchors and mainstream reporters.
Bret Hamilton live-streams the student pro-Palestinian encampment at Chapman University. (Zaydee Sanchez for The Washington Post)
“There’s a huge need and huge demand for real-time journalism happening on the ground,” Piker said. “I see myself as a command center when live-streaming. When I’m not on the ground myself, I try to find others who are.”
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Link to tweet
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Tents adorned with art at the Chapman University protest encampment. (Zaydee Sanchez for The Washington Post)
Share
https://wapo.st/3y2WMp3
By Taylor Lorenz
Taylor Lorenz is a columnist at The Washington Post covering technology and online culture. Before joining The Post, she was a technology reporter for the New York Times. Previously, she was a technology reporter at the Atlantic and the Daily Beast.