Published On 23/10/2025
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Last update: 13:00 (Mecca time)
The Journalism website, which specializes in keeping up with developments in the journalism profession, discussed the transformation of TikTok from an entertainment application into a competing news platform, and reviewed the experience of German Radio Deutsche Welle in giving priority to speed and constant presence at the expense of quality and ideal content.
Erica Marzano, a writer on the site and director of audience development at Deutsche Welle, said that TikTok has quietly turned into one of the fastest news agencies in the world, adding that this transformation is redefining breaking news, whether journalists like it or not.
The past few years have witnessed rapid development in TikTok, as features such as photo posts, carousels, and embedded links for publishers have been added.
The Deutsche Welle newsroom no longer waits for the perfect edit to publish on TikTok. The priority has become speed, clarity and importance, while the complete and completely accurate story comes later.
According to a report issued by the Pew Research Center, more than half of American adults get their news from social media.
The American center concluded that more than half of TikTok users (55%) get news regularly from the application, an increase of 22% over 2020 (5%).
For younger audiences, this shift is even more pronounced, as people between the ages of 18 and 29 are more likely to watch breaking news on TikTok than on X, Reddit, and Instagram.
The platform’s role in news consumption has more than quadrupled in just five years, while this momentum shows no signs of slowing down, according to experts.
Tik Tok…a power struggle and a battle for possession that determine the future of digital dominance
episode #observatory On platforms #Al Jazeera And Al Jazeera YouTube# witness | pic.twitter.com/ddseAgb89z– Al Jazeera Channel (@AJArabic) October 3, 2025
The priority of attendance over quality
Newsrooms are now operating in a way that accommodates the continuous and rapid flow of content. Regarding Deutsche Welle’s experience, Marzano said, “When a major event occurs, such as an attack, a court ruling, or a global protest, the first post on TikTok is not a completely perfect video. It is often a still photo or a short series of photos that summarize what is happening, and sometimes we attach it with a link to enhance the context.”
The writer points out that in the first publication, newsrooms should not be concerned with the quality of production as much as with proving existence, stressing that if news organizations were not viewed in the first hour of the event, they will not be viewed after that, as the data shared by TikTok during one of its press conferences shows that public interest reaches its peak in the period between 30 and 120 minutes after the event occurs.
Marzano said that the new rhythm of publishing in the digital age is more similar to live broadcasting than television, which waits for the news to be prepared with all its details, as the story is not published all at once, but rather develops gradually, post after post, within a visible series of updates, reactions, and explanations that accumulate over time. The first post is very fast and is limited to just a snapshot or a sentence telling people that something happened, then another post comes that adds more details or details. A new video, followed by a third post explaining the background, context, reactions, or analysis.
Deployment density is required
The writer, who specializes in connecting newsrooms and journalists with their audiences, points out that frequent posting on social media sites was considered a major sin in the past, as the prevailing assumption was that the audience would feel confused, and repetition would reduce reach, but for the TikTok application, the opposite is true.
She explained that the famous application’s system rewards consistency and presence, not quality content. The more posts there are, the better the average number of views.
She said: “At Deutsche Welle, we have stopped treating repetition as a risk, but rather as a growth strategy. The newsroom is no longer waiting for the perfect edit, and the priority has become speed, clarity, and importance. The complete and completely accurate story comes later.”
Prompt cooperation promotes diffusion
Deutsche Welle relied on a network model for publishing on TikTok, represented by immediate cooperation between all the different radio departments, which contributed to increasing the spread of news stories more quickly.
After each department worked separately and its team created its content on its own, the different departments (such as the Portuguese, Swahili or Urdu news department) began coordinating with each other. If urgent news was issued, such as an earthquake in a certain area, the radio team prepared the basic material from pictures or video, then each department took the same material, translated it quickly, and published it simultaneously after linking it to the pages of the other departments, which made the story popular. Spread globally in minutes.
Marzano concluded that TikTok does not imitate traditional journalism, but rather unintentionally created a new style of fast and interactive journalism, and added that the rise of the platform as a breaking news application challenges all other prevailing styles, as the next generation of audiences will not visit a news platform, but will encounter it while scrolling.
She concluded that this does not mean the death of journalism, but rather its transformation into an immediate and visual one that suits the nature of the modern audience on digital platforms.