This study examines how TikTok news is produced within a Belgian newsroom. While TikTok is the fastest-growing social media platform, research on its role in news production remains limited. Using ethnographic observations and in-depth interviews, we analyze the TikTok production process and explore how it is shaped by organizational structures, routines, and platform demands. Applying the Hierarchy of Influences model, our findings show that TikTok news editors benefit from significant autonomy but also face pressures from institutional expectations and platform logics. This tension requires them to balance innovation with adherence to journalistic standards while creating content aimed at TikTok’s younger audience. We identify five key challenges that emerged during our observations. With this research, we aim to shed light on broader trends transforming journalism in the social media age.
Al-RawiA (2024) Metajournalistic discourse on TikTok. Emerging Media2(1): 134–154.
2.
AnterL (2024) How news organizations coordinate, select, and edit content for social media platforms: a systematic literature review. Journalism Studies25(9): 1095–1115.
3.
AnterL (2025) How Social Media Affordances Shape Journalistic Content Production: A Stimulus-Based Interview Study on Journalists Perceptions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Ltd. Epub ahead of print 2025.
4.
AnterLKümpelAS (2023) Young adults’ information needs, use, and understanding in the context of Instagram: a multi-method study. Digital Journalism13(6): 1–19.
5.
BellEOwenTBrownP, et al. (2017) The Platform Press: How Silicon Valley Reengineered Journalism.
6.
BremsCTemmermanMGrahamT, et al. (2017) Digital journalism personal branding on Twitter how employed and freelance journalists stage themselves on social media. Digital Journalism5(4): 443–459.
7.
ChenGMPainPChenVY, et al. (2020) ‘You really have to have a thick skin’: a cross-cultural perspective on how online harassment influences female journalists. Journalism21(7): 877–895.
8.
ChengZLiY (2024) Like, comment, and share on TikTok: exploring the effect of sentiment and second-person view on the user engagement with TikTok news videos. Social Science Computer Review42(1): 201–223.
9.
CottleS (2007) Ethnography and news production: new(s) developments in the field. Sociology Compass1(1): 1–16.
10.
DegenMOlgemöllerM (2021) German political journalists and the normalization of Twitter. Journalism Studies22(10): 1317–1338.
11.
DegenMOlgemöllerMZabelC (2024) The tortured journalists department? Challenges and characteristics of quality journalism on TikTok in Germany. Emerging Media2(4): 673–697.
12.
Dvir-GvirsmanSTsurielK (2022) In an open relationship: platformization of relations between news practitioners and their audiences. Journalism Studies23(11): 1308–1326.
13.
DwyerTFlewTWildingD (2023) Where to next with Australia’s news media and digital platforms mandatory bargaining code?Communications48(3): 440–456.
14.
EkayantiMXiaomingH (2018) Journalism and political affiliation of the media: influence of ownership on Indonesian newspapers. Journalism19(9–10): 1326–1343.
15.
Ferrer-ConillRTandocEC (2018) The Audience-oriented editor: making sense of the audience in the newsroom. Digital Journalism6(4): 436–453.
16.
FerrucciP (2018) Networked: social media’s impact on news production in digital newsrooms. Newspaper Research Journal39(1): 6–17.
17.
FerrucciPKuhnT (2022) Remodeling the hierarchy: an organization-centric model of influence for media sociology research. Journalism Studies23(4): 525–543.
18.
García-AvilésC-A (2021) Review article: journalism innovation research, a diverse and flourishing field (2000–2020). El Profesional de la Información30(1): 1–33.
19.
García-AvilésJAKaltenbrunnerAMeierK (2014) Media convergence revisited. Journalism Practice8(5): 573–584.
20.
García-OrtegaAGarcía-AvilésJA (2023) Innovation in narrative formats redefines the boundaries of journalistic storytelling: Instagram stories, TikTok and comic journalism. Studies in Big Data140: 185–197. Springer, Cham.
21.
HagarNDiakopoulosN (2025) Algorithmic indifference: the dearth of news recommendations on TikTok. New Media & Society27(6): 3449–3469.
22.
HarcupTO’NeillD (2017) What is news? News values revisited (again). Journalism Studies18(12): 1470–1488.
23.
HaseVBoczekKScharkowM (2023) Adapting to affordances and audiences? A cross-platform, multi-modal analysis of the platformization of news on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. Digital Journalism11(8): 1499–1520.
24.
HedmanU (2020) Making the most of Twitter: how technological affordances influence Swedish journalists’ self-branding. Journalism21(5): 670–687.
25.
HendrickxJ (2024) ‘Normal news is boring’: how young adults encounter and experience news on Instagram and TikTok. New Media and Society. Sage Publications Ltd. Epub ahead of print 2024.
26.
HendrickxJOpgenhaffenM (2024a) Het Online Nieuwsjaar 2023.
27.
HendrickxJOpgenhaffenM (2024b) Introduction: understanding social media journalism. Journalism Studies25(9): 919–930.
28.
HendrickxJVázquez-HerreroJ (2024) Dissecting social media journalism: a comparative study across platforms, outlets and countries. Journalism Studies25(9): 1053–1075.
29.
HermidaAMelladoC (2020) Dimensions of social media logics: mapping forms of journalistic norms and practices on Twitter and Instagram. Digital.Journalism8(7): 864–884.
30.
HumayunMFFerrucciP (2022) Understanding social media in journalism practice: a typology. Digital Journalism10(9): 1502–1525.
31.
KalogeropoulosAFletcherRNielsenRK (2019) News brand attribution in distributed environments: do people know where they get their news?New Media and Society21(3): 583–601.
32.
KleinMMaginMRiedlAA, et al. (2023) From news softening to social news softening: comparing patterns of political news coverage on different (social) media channels in Germany and Switzerland. Digital Journalism, Epub ahead of print 2023.
33.
KlugDAutenriethU (2022) Struggle for strategy presence, practices, and communicative strategies of legacy news providers on TikTok.
34.
KwandaFALinTTC (2020) Fake news practices in Indonesian newsrooms during and after the Palu earthquake: a hierarchy-of-influences approach. Information, Communication & Society23(6): 849–866.
35.
LamotK (2022) What the metrics say. The softening of news on the Facebook pages of mainstream media outlets digital. Digital Journalism10(4): 517–536.
36.
LamotKKreutzTOpgenhaffenM (2022) “We rewrote this title”: how news headlines are remediated on Facebook and how this affects engagement. Social Media + Society8(3): 1–11.
37.
LasorsaDLLewisSCHoltonAE (2012) Normalizing Twitter: journalism practice in an emerging communication space. Journalism Studies13(1): 19–36.
38.
LingCBlackburnJDe CristofaroE, et al. (2022) Understanding indicators of virality in TikTok short videos. In: ACM international conference proceeding series, Barcelona, Spain, 26 June 2022, pp. 164–173. Association for Computing Machinery.
39.
LischkaJA (2021) Logics in social media news making: how social media editors marry the Facebook logic with journalistic standards. Journalism22(2): 430–447.
40.
MolyneuxLNelsonJL (2024) “Let’s not tank the reputation of this organization.” How newsroom social media policies exacerbate journalism’s labor crisis. Journalism Studies25(9): 931–950.
41.
Negreira-ReyMCVázquez-HerreroJLópez-GarcíaX (2022) Blurring boundaries between journalists and TikTokers: journalistic role performance on TikTok. Media and Communication10(1): 146–156.
42.
NeilsonTGibsonTAOrtigaK (2023) Now hiring social media. Journalism Studies24(3): 365–386.
NewmanNFletcherREddyK, et al. (2023) Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023.
45.
NewmanNFletcherRRobertsonCT, et al. (2024) Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2024.
46.
NgRIndranN (2023) Granfluencers on TikTok: factors linked to positive self-portrayals of older adults on social media. PLoS One18: e0280281.
47.
OpgenhaffenM (2021) Facebook status messages as seductive and engaging headlines: interviews with social media news editors. In: News Values from an Audience Perspective. London: Springer International Publishing, 121–138.
48.
OpgenhaffenMd’HaenensL (2015) Managing social media use: whither social media guidelines in news organizations?JMM International Journal on Media Management17(4): 201–216.
49.
OpgenhaffenMHendrickxJ (2024) Social media news editors as journalists or marketeers: who are they and how do they identify themselves?Journalism6(25): 1383–1400.
50.
Peterson-SalahuddinC (2024) News for (me and) you: exploring the reporting practices of citizen journalists on TikTok. Journalism Studies25(9): 1076–1094.
51.
Peterson-SalahuddinCDiakopoulosN (2020) Negotiated autonomy: the role of social media algorithms in editorial decision making. Media and Communication8(3): 27–38.
ReeseSD (2001) Understanding the global journalist: A hierarchy-of-influences approach. Journalism Studies2(2): 173–187.
54.
ReeseS (2019) Hierarchy of Influences. In: VosT. PHanuschF (eds). International Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies. Wiley, 1–5.
55.
ReeseSDShoemakerPJ (2016) A media sociology for the networked public sphere: the hierarchy of influences model. Mass Communication & Society19(4): 389–410.
56.
ShoemakerPJReeseSD (1996) Mediating the Message: Theories of Influences on Mass Media Content. New York: Owensboro Volunteer Recording Unit.
57.
ShoemakerPReeseSD (2014) Mediating the message in the 21st century: A media sociology perspective. New York, NY: Routledge.
58.
SingerJB (2005) The political j-blogger: ‘normalizing’ a new media form to fit old norms and practices. Journalism6(2): 173–198.
59.
SwartJGroot KormelinkTCosteraMI, et al. (2022) Advancing a radical audience turn in journalism. Fundamental dilemmas for journalism studies. Digital Journalism10(1): 8–22.
60.
TandocECVosTP (2016) The journalist is marketing the news: social media in the gatekeeping process. Journalism Practice10(8): 950–966.
61.
te WalvaartMVan den BulckHDhoestA (2018) Engaging the audience in a digitised television production process: A “hierarchy of influences” approach. Journalism Practice12(7): 901–917.
62.
TisdellEJMerriamSB (2016) Qualitative research: a guide to design and implementation. In: The Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series. 4th edition. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
63.
TsurielKDvir GvirsmanSZivL, et al. (2021) Servant of two masters: how social media editors balance between mass media logic and social media logic. Journalism22(8): 1983–2000.
64.
van DijckJPoellT (2013) Understanding social media logic. Media and Communication1(1): 2–14.
65.
Vázquez-HerreroJDireito-RebollalSLópez-GarcíaX (2019) Ephemeral journalism: news distribution through Instagram stories. Social Media and Society5: 1–13.
66.
Vázquez-HerreroJNegreira-ReyMCLópez-GarcíaX (2020) Let’s dance the news! How the news media are adapting to the logic of TikTok. Journalism. Sage Publications Ltd.
67.
VerstappenMNelissenEOpgenhaffenM, et al. (2022) Van persbericht tot Facebookpost. Tijdschrift Voor Communicatiewetenschap50(3): 210–230.
68.
VerstappenMOpgenhaffenM (2024) Creating the newsfeed: how social media editors remediate the news for Facebook and Instagram. Journalism Practice1–17. Routledge.
69.
Waschková CísařováL (2024) We were innovators, but we gave up: The muted digital transition of local newspapers digital. Journalism12(1): 83–100.
70.
WelbersKOpgenhaffenM (2019) Presenting news on social media: media logic in the communication style of newspapers on Facebook. Digital Journalism7(1): 45–62.
71.
WirzDSZaiF (2025) Infotainment on social media: how news companies combine information and entertainment in news stories on Instagram and TikTok. Digital Journalism. Routledge. Epub ahead of print 2025.
72.
XuYJinJ (2017) The hierarchy of influences on professional role perceptions among Chinese online journalists: a multilevel analysis. Digital Journalism5(2): 194–212.
73.
ZulliDDeyoeDWalkerC, et al. (2024) Is it funny or a trend? Examining US news humor on TikTok. Communication Review27(3): 320–336.
