There are a wide range of considerations as to why an outlet might want to maintain verified status for its journalists. An editorial leader at an entertainment news outlet who was not authorized to discuss its politics told BuzzFeed News that the publication will likely end up paying for verification. Although this outlet is at a lower risk of the kind of misinformation that could start World War III, it has a constant problem with scammers who try to swindle money from music artists by pretending to write for the publication and asking them to pay for (fake) coverage.
Geoffrey Ingersoll, editor-in-chief of the Daily Caller, told BuzzFeed News that his organization will likely make the enterprise version, although he personally did not intend to keep its checkmark. “I had planned to let mine expire because I have no interest in being a famous nerd among journalists on Twitter,” he said. “Since verification became a fee, it has lost its usefulness for me, particularly searching for tweets from only verified people to get an idea of where the media is taking a story.”
The Daily Caller hasn’t decided which people in the newsroom will remain verified as part of the five-account package, and the outlet plans to review analytics in a few months to see if the payout is worth it.
Insider also does not plan to pay its journalists’ checks. “The value of a blue check mark was that it said the person was who they said they were,” editor-in-chief Nicholas Carlson told BuzzFeed News. “Now a blue check mark simply says you are a Twitter Blue subscriber. That doesn’t help Twitter users or our readers.”
Similarly, Politico will not pay staff checks. “In the future, a verification mark will no longer mean you’re a verified journalist. Instead, it will simply mean you’re paying for benefits like longer tweets and fewer ads,” Anita Kumar, Politico’s senior standards and ethics editor, wrote in a message to the newsroom shared with BuzzFeed News. “Politico won’t pay you to subscribe to Twitter Blue. Of course, you can sign up on your own.”
However, for freelance and independent journalists, it may be worth it. “I’m definitely going to pay for Twitter Blue. I actually signed up this week,” said Alex Kantrowitz, a former BuzzFeed News staffer who writes the Substack newsletter. Great technology. “I don’t mind the blue checkmark, which might be a drawback right now. But getting additional distribution on the For You tab is worth it to me at $8 a month, given that distribution is the lifeblood of smaller media brands like Big Tech.”
Beyond getting a blue checkmark, Twitter Blue includes features like the ability to see the most shared articles by people you follow on Twitter, which many journalists find useful. Twitter is also apparently working on a way to let Blue subscribers hide their check mark, which could make paying the modest fee more attractive to someone who just wants the features but thinks the check looks embarrassing.
BuzzFeed Inc. (which includes the various BuzzFeed, BuzzFeed News, Tasty, HuffPost, and Complex accounts) does not plan to pay or allow employees to spend blue checks. “As a company, we don’t think it’s a wise use of resources to pay people to keep a blue check mark that’s no different than anyone else — an amateur medical expert, Elon Stan, or anyone else — who is simply willing to pay the fee for a blue check,” said Karolina Waclawiak, editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed News.
Ellie Hall and Tom Warren contributed reporting to this story.
