While protests in Los Angeles against the Trump government stretched out on Tuesday in their fifth day, social media makers sometimes surpassed the traditional press corps in rallies and played an extraordinary role in sharing media about what happened on the ground.
Many with their own improvised press helmets and vests, many makers – of whom many of them have been conservative – whole days of coverage have been livestated and posted on social platforms such as X and streaming sites such as Twitch and YouTube. During some of the most violent moments of the week, Trump officials such as Stephen Miller and billionaires such as Elon Musk chosen Unpleasant strengthen What the makers published, making the messages viral and feeding the story that the violence has been out of hand.
President Trump said that the government of California Gavin Newsom and others had no control over the protests and called for troops of the National Guard to intervene. Mr. Newsom said that the troops were unnecessary and submitted an emergency movement to prevent the Trump administration from sending the troops. Since Friday, at least 150 protesters have been arrested, officials said.
Among the makers of the protests, Cam Higby, 25, was a journalist and political commentator for the conservative digital outlet Today is America. He flew from his house in Washington to Los Angeles last Friday after seeing videos of the demonstrations on X.
On Monday evening he live from the front line of the protests alongside another online maker and friend, Aldo Buttazoni, 25. Mr. Higby and Mr. Buttazoni previously worked for the conservative media -outlet prager and noticed himself as “America First” “. Much of their content comes in the form of refutations to democratic officials such as Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass of Mr. Newsom.
The posts of Mr Higby, who have collected millions of views in recent days, fades the line between reporting and advocacy. He sometimes places video updates on police movements and repeats Mr. Trump about how ‘LA needs the National Guard‘In attempts to burn outrage.
“I would call it a duality: I do on the ground report and I also comment on issues,” said Mr. Higby.
With a limited number of reporters in Los Angeles, Fox News tapped Mr. Higby and Mr. Buttazoni on for unpaid television appearances at the weekend, making them cut for live updates.
Liberal demonstrators who recognized Mr Higby and Mr Buttazoni came out publicly, and Mr Buttazoni finally left all identifying badges with his name on his clothes. Mr Higby said that on social media he received sufficient ‘credible threats’ that he paid $ 3,000 to hire two bodyguards.
Leaning makers such as the Twitch-Streamer leaning Hasan Pikeer33, also reported of meetings in Los Angeles, although in apparently smaller numbers. Mr. Pecker’s Twitch stream on Monday From the same protest in Los Angeles that Mr. Higby attended, lasted eight hours and received 1.4 million views.
Andrew CallaghanA journalist in Los Angeles and the maker of the media company Channel 5 News, which also dealt with the protests, said that the market for protest and riestideoos was born during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations of 2020. But it has been exploded since, with some right-wing makers, he added the “Label. Label.
“They don’t have a boss, so they can say that they are independent, but they follow exactly the same stimulation structures as the conservative established media,” Mr Callaghan said in an interview. “Click on bait, important frames that do not reflect the reality of the situation, do what they can do to absorb the audience that otherwise the same programming would watch FOX News.”
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