The Creator Competency Question

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Every time a creator fumbles on a red carpet, the comments fill up with the same voice — journalists and media traditionalists reminding everyone why trained professionals should be the ones getting hired for these moments. And on the surface, it's hard to argue with. Traditional journalism is a real craft. It requires preparation, accountability, and the willingness to ask the uncomfortable question without needing the guest to like you after. But in this episode of While I've Got You, Gabby Turner sits with both sides of the journalist versus creator debate and starts pulling on a thread that changes the whole conversation.

Because creators are clearly offering something too. When guests have editorial control — when they know that if something doesn't feel right it gets cut, no questions asked — they show up differently. More human, more unfiltered, more vulnerable in ways that audiences are responding to. The creator brings connection where journalism brings clarity, and depending on what you're looking for, that distinction matters.

What really shifts the conversation is the third example Gabby brings up. Not a creator fumbling on a carpet — a credentialed Associated Press journalist interrupting BabyFace mid-sentence to call out for Chappell Roan. She had the training. She had the credentials. And in that moment, she didn't do the job she was hired to do. Which raises the question this episode keeps coming back to: if traditional journalism training were the guarantee, how does that moment happen? And if it's not actually about training — what is it about?

Gabby also gets into who is getting the institutional co-sign in this industry and who is absorbing the consequences when things go wrong. Hannah Berner and Jake Shane were both hired to host Vanity Fair's Oscar after-party coverage. Drew Afualo — a creator who has never had a moment like the ones being used as ammunition in this debate — has never been given that room. And when Jake Shane's miss with Julia Fox dominated the conversation, his co-host Quenlin Blackwell, a Black creator who did her job, watched her entire moment get swallowed by someone else's fumble.

This episode doesn't resolve the debate. It asks whether the debate is even about what we think it's about. The real question might not be training versus no training. It might be competency — and those are not the same thing.

While I've Got You is a short-form podcast about culture, identity, and the moments worth noticing, hosted by Gabby Turner. New episodes monthly.

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
I'm Gabby and you're listening to While I've Got You.
Let's start the show.
Hello everyone and welcome backto the podcast.
I want to talk about the thingthat I've been noticing, which
is this journalist versuscreator conversation.

(00:21):
I've been seeing it come up alot.
It seems like every time acreator sort of fumbles on the
red carpet or in an interview,the comments fill up with the
same voice of either veryspecifically like journalists
and media traditionalists orpeople or big-brained thinkers

(00:42):
that are reminding everyone whytrained professionals should be
the ones being hired on a carpetor doing interviews, that they
should be the ones getting thejob.
And not only the importance ofhiring traditional journalists,
but also noting that thecreators that are fumbling are
the people that are taking awayjobs from people who are trained

(01:03):
to do the job.
And I can see both sides of thisconversation, and I want to
actually unpack it with you all,and then I have questions for
you all to consider and help mewith.
Let this be a conversation and adialogue between us.
What really finalized this as atopic for me is that Jeanette

(01:23):
Reyes, a former news anchor andco-host of the podcast Off the
Record, shared in an Instagramreel recently that her and her
co-host approach interviews withtheir guests on the podcast as
journalists, as traditionaljournalists.
Which means three things.
Just according to her, I am nota traditionally trained
journalist.

(01:44):
I am not a journalist.
And so I want to be clear thatI'm not minimizing the job and
the experience, the educationthat journalists have.
This is just three of the waysthat she pointed out that they
approach interviewing theirguests.
And that's that they don't giveguests any editorial control,
which is the first differencethat I noted between traditional

(02:05):
journalists and what we'reseeing with creators more often.
And then they research pastinterviews, which I would also
say that I don't really see alot of creators doing either.
They research past interviews tolearn the talking points with
the intention of moving guestsoff their talking points, like
getting them out of their PRtraining a little bit and more

(02:28):
into clarifying things.
So they might say somethinglike, I noted in a 2014
interview that you said X, Y,and Z, do you still think that?
And if that person responds withthe talking points that these
journalists have seenhistorically, they will prepare
follow-up questions that takethem away from that talking

(02:48):
point and hopefully get a littlebit more into the nitty-gritty
and the clarity.
And they approach theseinterviews with the idea that as
journalists, their opinions onthe topic or the opinions of
that guest are irrelevant.
They're there to narrow thingsdown and get clarity.
She mentions in this reel thatthey received a little bit of

(03:13):
pushback from listeners who saidthat they were being mean to a
guest for asking for thatclarity.
The guest didn't feel that way.
But as listeners, the listenersfelt like they were being a
little bit of bullies for doingtheir job and really trying to
get their guest off of thosetalking points in a way that

(03:33):
offers an opportunity forclarity and also demands it.
And how telling that is.
So again, that's whatjournalists are actually
bringing to the conversation.
It's where we get more nuanceand the opportunity for clarity,
and there's something else thatI think gets really dismissed
with creators and what creators,podcasters, influencers that

(03:57):
don't necessarily have thattraditional training, what they
are offering.
Of course, with so much respectto those things that traditional
journalists have.

(04:23):
We're getting to see creatorssay, if you want something cut,
we cut it.
No questions asked.
And it allows guests to show updifferently because of it.
They get to be a little bit moreinfiltered, more human, more
vulnerable.
And the creator side of thingsbrings a different kind of
access.
Not always with crazy clarity,but with connection.

(04:46):
And depending on what you'relooking for, that might be
exactly why you would go to acreator and watch a creator's
interview versus the interviewof a journalist.
It also is important to noticethe both and of this
conversation.
Journalists are giving us theinformation and the clarity, and

(05:10):
basically saying if you're gonnasay it, we want you to be clear
on what you're saying, and youhave to be accountable to what
you're saying too, because youdon't have that editorial
control, and because it's myintention to get you off those
talking points.
That's important.
That's how we get a lot ofinformation, and it's how we
hold these notable peopleaccountable to what they've said

(05:32):
and to say what they mean withtheir chest, and with such an
increasing likelihood thatsaying the wrong words can get
you canceled.
Going and having an interviewwith a creator, probably a lot
easier and more refreshing.
We could probably get into theconversation of unfortunately,
one of the taxes you have to payof being a notable person is

(05:56):
being held accountable and notalways getting to be in a fun,
cozy, cushy seat of we're justhere to have fun, and if you say
something and you think it mightland wrong to the masses, we'll
cut it.
And instead of being like, Yeah,unfortunately, you have a
platform and you have to standon that platform and take
ownership of it, sadly, whetheryou like it or not.
So that could be a differentconversation, but I just wanted

(06:18):
to acknowledge both of those.
Really, this conversation isinteresting to me because I
think it's actually doingsomething a little bit
different.
There are three examples thatcome to mind when I think about
the way we've seen thisjournalist versus creator
conversation come up.

(06:39):
The first one is last year atthe Vanity Fair Oscars after
party.
Post-after party?
Some post-Oscars after party?
Y'all know what I'm trying tosay.
Where Hannah Berner and PaigeDeSorbo are interviewing Megan
the Stallion, and Hannah Bernersays that Megan the Stallion's
music makes her want to fight.
And Megan's response is like,not fight, girl, don't do that.

(07:02):
We don't fight.
Just that miss was sointeresting and was ultimately
like pushed up as amicroaggression, which I agree
that it was.
And Hannah Berner, as far as Iknow, is not a traditionally
trained journalist.
She's a comedian.
So she's going for the comedicrelease in the bid in that
moment.

(07:23):
On the other side, we saw thisyear with Jake Shane telling
Julia Fox that he thought thekid, like getting her to agree,
kind of pushing her to agreethat the kid in If I had legs,
I'd kick you was annoying.
Shout out to Quinlan Blackwell,who was there with Jake Shane.
And we don't get to see what shedid well.

(07:45):
If she did well, I couldn't findreally anything on what that
experience was like for her, howshe held her own.
People talking about her beingthere, if she had those same
sort of comments, like this iswhy we need to give traditional
journalists jobs and notcreators, with others directed
at her as well, when sheseemingly had no misses, or was

(08:07):
her experience completelyswallowed up by Jake Shane's
miss with Julia Fox?
These are the kind of momentsthat we so repeatedly see again
that same narrative.
This is why we should stopgiving journalists jobs to
creators.
I went to school for this, andthis would have never happened,
that type of energy.
But here is where things getinteresting.

(08:28):
When I was researching intothis, the third example that I
thought of was what I thoughtwas a creator, this host,
interviewing Babyface, and inthe middle of Babyface's
sentence, like he's in themiddle of speaking, she starts
looking around him and goes,Chapel round, come here, we want

(08:49):
to talk to you.
Like while the man is talking.
The host that did that, the onthe carpet correspondent that
did that was an associated pressjournalist.
She's traditionally trained.
So she has the training, she hasthe credentials, and in that

(09:10):
moment, she didn't do the jobshe was trained for or hired to
do well.
So it made me start to wonder iftraining, if the educational
background was a guarantee thatthe moment doesn't happen, this
moment wouldn't have happened.
This moment with AssociatedPress wouldn't have happened.

(09:32):
So the conversation might not beabout the training at all.
It might be about the competencyof the individuals that are
getting hired for the job.
And boy, if that ain't a wholenew conversation.
But you know, training andcompetency, those are not the
same thing.
Hannah Berner and Jake Shanewere both hired to host Vanity
Fair's Oscar After Party.

(09:54):
Whereas creators that are on mytimeline, like Drew Afualo, I'm
probably saying that wrong andI'm so sorry, but Drew
A-F-U-A-L-O, a creator who I'venever seen have a moment like
this one, has never really beengiven that chance on a level
like the Vanity Fair OscarParty.

(10:14):
She has done a lot ofcorrespondence for different
media outlets, but not as big asVanity Fair yet.
And Jake Shane didn't hostalone.
Like I mentioned, he was pairedwith the black creator who did
her job, and the conversationthat followed that opportunity
wasn't about her and her abilityand her competency.
It was about her co-host, lackof education and responsibility

(10:35):
in that space.
Now I'm not saying that this isthe whole story, but I do think
it's worth noticing that if thisis a conversation about
standards and competency, thepeople that are getting the like
industry cosign versus thepeople absorbing the

(10:55):
consequences doesn't necessarilyseem to be distributed all that
evenly.
Now, with all that being said,obviously journalism is a real
craft, it requires preparationand not only accountability and
integrity and responsibility ofthe journalist, but also demands

(11:18):
that of the guests they have aswell.
And the willingness to ask theuncomfortable questions without
needing to be a mutual fan.
I think I saw a lot of commentstoday saying, like, so many
journalists now just want to befans.
They show up in the space asfans.
And true journalism is a craftthat requires you to like leave

(11:40):
that on the sidelines.
I also think that the creatorside of things has something
real too, and potentially arepresentation of where the
industry is going to a placethat prioritizes connection and
safety and access to a versionof notable people that we don't
usually get to see.

(12:02):
I think both sides havesomething that they can learn
from each other.
Creators taking the time to putin the work, to do the research,
to really show up and askquestions, and the journalists'
side to curate more open andsafe spaces that prioritize

(12:24):
connection, maybe a little bitover whatever clarity looks like
it needs to be in that moment.
Obviously, there's nuance tothat conversation.
And on the flip side, when thereare creators on a red carpet,
yeah, I want to see a fun,playful conversation that
hopefully doesn't have misses,that hopefully doesn't feel

(12:45):
dismissive to the people thatthey are interviewing, like this
Shane and Julia Fox miss.
There's nuance to that.
Because of that nuance, I'mwondering if there's anyone
doing both well.
If you have anybody, pleaseleave it in the comments.
DM me whatever.

(13:06):
Is there anyone doing both well?
So not a journalist who's likelearn to be charming, and not a
creator who got lucky and askeda couple decent questions.
Someone who like genuinelycreates safety without
sacrificing integrity.
Yeah.
That's all I've got for youtoday.

(13:27):
I hope you enjoyed, and I'lltalk to you soon.
Bye.