How to Make TikTok Journalism Not Cringey? The EU Might Have an Answer.

ENTR, a European Union–funded media project, brings together Gen Z journalists to produce social-media-first news.

When Refresher, a Hungarian lifestyle magazine, joined ENTR, a pan-European project to produce short-form video journalism for a Gen Z audience, the staff faced a question many journalists ask themselves when they go on social media: How do we not make it cringe? Léna Pálfy and Júlia Gróf, the co–editorial leads for ENTR at Refresher, started with the basics: “The first few seconds are crucial,” Gróf, who is twenty-six, said. “So is the time of posting. But it’s mostly about the person on-screen: you must look and sound like you’re one of the audience, and you need to show genuine interest in what you’re talking about.”

Getting that right wasn’t easy at first. “We started experimenting,” Gróf recalled. “We tried super-hectic Gen Alpha stuff, where our presenter kept moving around, chewing gum, making faces, shifting the camera, adding effects, whatnot. The comments showed that it was ‘unwatchable.’ It even made Gen Z people feel old. Then we did some boring studio stuff, and that wasn’t enough. We found the sweet spot using a fixed camera and a casual background, and let our presenter have fun with it.” She added, “For most people on our team, it’s their first job. We didn’t even study anything related to journalism. We’re exactly like the people who watch our videos from their couch.”