APRIL 28, 2026 –I know that thinking of YouTube as a news source sounds apocalyptic to some. But now that Jim Acosta and Katie Phang start Independent YouTube channels in the last 18 months, it’s time to pay attention.

Smallernjournalists have always been on YouTube, and the range of quality continues to widen. Now you see the newscasters jumping down to the smaller Tubes–and loving the freedom.

We can’t trust a streamer!

Let’s cut through the assumptions that YouTubers can’t be “real news.” Many opinion or “drama” channels only use secondary sources, but many are self taught in poring over years of footage for clues.

Whether they take the next steps to verify and fact check, however; that’s what separates a news channel to me. We see journalists, there are commentators, and some are a combination. I find that especially on YouTube now, people are much more inclined to understand the difference between when someone is stating the facts of a situation versus their opinion based on those facts.

In the early years of YouTube, creators didn’t understand many legalities, but that has mostly vhanged. Defamation and copyright lawsuits skyrocketed in the early aughts, and YouTubers got crash courses in business insurance. The smarter ones learned how to avoid such financial strain by keeping receipts– and getting good at disclaimers.

Here are my favorite journalists and commentary channels as of today:

Current Events

• Johnny Harris breaks down journalism and visual storytelling. He’s also a very good educator on most other topics. Here is a great example of how detailed a fact-check he does.
• What A Day is hosted by Jane Coasten, and she keeps it quick, detailed, and is the opposite of glib. Don’t let the clickbait thumbnails fool you. She’s just playing the algorithm game on the outside.
• Don Lemon’s The Lemon Drop is one of my highest recommendations, and between the revisions for this piece, he is now under investigation by the DOJ because they’re mad he outed their ICE Pastor.
• Tara Palmieri brings her experience as a veteran Political and Foreign Affairs reporter and as she says on her page: “Now I’m bringing the news directly to you here on YouTube.”
• The Jim Acosta Show is a good on-ramp to watching the news on YouTube. He is 100% from the traditional media industry, and now his tagline is “Don’t give in to the lies. Don’t give in to the fear. Hold on to the truth. And hope.” His theme song is an 1980s headbanging treat too.
• Next Question with Katie Couric (Katie Couric!) is now on YouTube. Like Acosta, it’s really sweet to see her love of the new medium and how she enjoys the freedom to ask what she wants to ask and what needs to be asked.

Scams

• Coffeezilla got on my radar when he started investigating Andrew Tate and began his investigation into Logan Paul that has turned into a defamation lawsuit. His style goes a little fantastical but this dude verifies like nobody’s business. He also knows a lot about the online gambling industry.

Sports, Culture, and Politics

• I learned the most about the sports online gambling controversy from Pablo Torre Finds Out, and he is now part of The Athletic Podcast Network.

Finances & Business

• The Financial Diet also has reported commentary, and their deep dives into how Culture and Finances intertwine are exquisite.
• Social Currency: Business & Culture with Host Sammi Tannor Cohen
• If you need to go nerdy into tech and data privacy, or just want a glimpse of what we’re up against, subscribe to 404 Media. I particularly enjoyed this Inside History of Teaif you’d like a moderate start to their work. They also got me into the idea of zines.
• Colin & Samir are my first stop to learn more about a YouTuber. Sometimes these guys are more PR than Journalists in their Interviews, but you can learn a lot about the industry this way, if interested. They know the business and are eternally looking for ways to share their knowledge with others.

Fashion & Culture/Business

• Amy Odell is a Fashion and Culture journalist who holds an incredible knowledge of the role that fashion plays in our daily lives.
• Mina Le has excellent short documentaries – with commentary – on Fashion, Movies, and Life, and I always appreciate her outlooks.

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