TV News Stations Want To Collaborate With Creators, But Does It Go Both Ways?

Editor’s note: This post is part of News From Creatorland, a column where journalist and entrepreneur Fernando Hurtado shares learnings and observations from the frontlines of creator journalism.

In 2024, Marlon A. Walker, the managing editor of local for The Marshall Project, wrote his Nieman Lab prediction for what 2025 would bring to journalism. “News organizations will increasingly rely on digital creators not just as amplifiers but as integral partners in storytelling,” he predicted. 

Walker reasoned that as younger viewers get more of their news from social media — and from influencers, specifically — legacy news entities will benefit from partnering with these creators. 

As if on cue, it’s July 2025, and Walker’s prediction is a reality.

I was scrolling through Instagram a few weeks ago when I saw NBC Los Angeles did a series of collaboration posts (meaning they were co-posted) with L.A. in a Minute, a social media account that covers the history, culture and legacy of L.A. and sometimes even current events. The posts were video reports hosted by L.A. in a Minute creator Evan Lovett and NBCLA morning news anchor Lynette Romero. One of the videos was about L.A.’s history as a mafia town.

I liked the video for a few reasons:

• It was well produced. It had a strong opening line that made me stop scrolling.
• Romero’s presence is explained right away: Lovett says at the beginning of the video that this is “a special report with NBC4.”
• Lovett and Romero volley nicely back and forth, really driving forth the fact that they’re partners on this report.
• And most importantly, the video is edited in the style that’s characteristic of L.A. in a Minute: TikTok-style edits, a few jump cuts and a casual voiceover that’s very different from the overproduced feel of TV news.

I say the last point is the most important because while I don’t have the backstory of the collaboration from NBC executives, I am willing to bet the point of the partnership was to expose L.A. in a Minute’s more than 490,000 younger social media viewers to the NBCLA brand.

As such, I think having an NBCLA journalist show they can team up with a beloved L.A. creator and tell stories in that creator’s style can yield positive brand perception for the TV news station.

Adriana Lacy, a journalist and founder of a consulting firm, summarized the end goal of influencer-newsroom collaborations succinctly in a presentation for the Local Media Association.

“Influencers may not drive instant clicks — but they do shape perceptions and attention, especially among under-30s,” Lacy said.

For me it was clear what the appeal of a content creator storytelling collaboration was for a TV news station: relevancy and new audience acquisition. But it was less clear for me what would be so appealing about it for a content creator.

I reached out to Lovett to ask him what drew him to the collaboration with NBC. I learned this is actually not the first newsroom collaboration he has done. He’s collaborated on content with KTLA and KTTV, too.

“My goal is to be 85 years old and have 20,000 stories in the bag,” Lovett says. “Every opportunity I have to cover additional stories is a fun and good opportunity. Any new audiences are always welcome. You draw some broadcast people into social media and some social media people into the [NBC] broadcast. That works to expand everybody’s horizons. So, I think that that’s a good byproduct of the idea.”

It also helped that Lovett is a journalist himself. In college he wrote for UCLA’s Daily Bruin, and he actually interned for longtime (and now retired) NBCLA sports anchor Fred Roggin. After college, he worked for the Los Angeles Times as a sports journalist before pivoting to a career in online advertising. 

“News and accurate information are one of the most important lifeblood of us for society,” Lovett says. “And I’ve seen the demise of news over the last decade, so it’s something that I hold dear, even sacred. I still subscribe to the L.A. Times and the L.A. Daily News in print because that’s how much of a believer I am in news. I think it’s really freaking important, and I try to get more people to care about it. That’s my goal.”

The partnership with NBCLA is a batch of four videos he’s co-producing with the station. He says he handled most of the production for the videos. 

“I present a list of concepts and episodes. They narrow that list down,” Lovett says. “We start figuring out which ones we want to prioritize. I do like to maintain control over the scripts for the most part. So, I usually present a script, and then it’s collaboratively edited. The final product is something that everybody’s happy with.”

I wanted to see what would pique other creators’ interest in TV news collaborations, so I went to a content creator meetup in L.A. organized by Colin & Samir. I asked five people for what would make a TV news collaboration attractive. Four of them said they didn’t have any immediate thoughts. One of them asked me to give him an example of a “local TV news station.” It won’t surprise you that the person who said that was the youngest person I interviewed.

Out of luck at that event, I reached out via email to about 30 creators who post about things to do in their city. That’s when I heard back from Tanner James, a content creator who goes by @taannr and posts about things to do in L.A.

James happened to have just filmed a collaboration with NBC. This one was with the company’s California stations’ daily lifestyle show, California Live. The collaboration involved James hosting a filmed segment on a place in Pasadena. It hasn’t aired yet, so James didn’t want to give away too much information. 

What he did tell me was that NBC handled the production of the piece. 

“They shot it and edited it,” James says. “I just kind of showed up.”

I asked James what about the partnership made it an attractive offer.

“I think some of these — I don’t want to say old school — but some of these tried-and-true media sources are still attractive [to me],” James says. “It might not do anything for my personal brand, but I feel a sense of accomplishment for going beyond Instagram, you know? When they reached out, I was just so stoked because it’s almost like a gold star, like you’re doing something right, you know?”

Even though he admits he doesn’t watch local TV news much, having a big network like NBC reach out to him still carried a big weight.

“Social media can be kind of a hamster wheel. [The collaboration with NBC] is validation for all the hard work I’ve been putting in,” he says. “It was a really good feeling. I didn’t even get paid or anything, but I just did it because I was like, I really want to do it.”

For James, part of the value is in the clip of the segment he’ll get for his reel. “This is a proof of concept to show other TV networks,” he said. “You can show this to other people and be like, I can handle this TV situation.”

Overall, James says he was really happy with the collaboration. I asked him if he would’ve still done the collaboration if NBC asked him to shoot and edit the segment.

“Then I might have been a little less inclined to do it,” he says. “I probably still would’ve, but I think it’s cooler that they’re editing it and taking the workload off.”

As someone who used to work at NBC and is now a “creator,” I thought it’d be helpful to come up with a list of tips for TV news stations considering a similar collaboration:

“Their partnership has helped translate complex issues around drought, climate and the Colorado River into digestible, engaging content,” Lacy says. “What made it successful is that it didn’t feel like PR — it was a true alignment of missions. Western Water Girl brought personality and clarity to topics that often feel inaccessible, and High Country News supported that with reporting and editorial rigor. Together, they reached communities that might not otherwise engage with environmental journalism.”

• Find someone mission-aligned: Lovett predicts working with a creator who is not used to working on thoroughly researched journalistic content might raise some headaches. “You want somebody who understands the value of what you’re doing, and you understand the value of whatthey’re doing,” he says.
• Respect the creator’s storytelling style: Forcing the creator to tell a story in the newscast package format risks coming across as inauthentic. “A good partnership centers the creator’s voice while grounding the content in solid reporting,” Lacy says. “It also respects the audience: the creator knows what will resonate, and the newsroom can offer depth, accuracy and resources that elevate the storytelling.”
• Define what “success” means and make sure the creator is on board: Are you measuring success by how many clicks your website gets? That’s probably not the best measure, especially for click-averse platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Does success just mean positive perception by association of your news brand? Or new followers? Those last two options might be better goals.
• Consider a long-term relationship: Instead of just co-producing one social video, what if your news station was the go-to news source for a creator in your city? They could post weekly videos on a story of their choosing and attribute your station as the source. Or like Lovett on KNX News 97.1 FM, a creator could have a recurring segment.

I’m curious: Has your newsroom tried a creator collaboration? What did you learn from the experience?