Meet Addison Rae Easterling. She’s 20 years old and has millions of followers on social media.

Journalists are jelly because Addison Rae joked about 3 months of college education landing her a prime sports reporting job.

All the people complaining about this because they studied sports broadcasting for 30 years should simply try having 80+ million tiktok followers https://t.co/0Zj8UN3d3X

— Brendan O’Keeffe (@BrendanKOKeeffe) July 10, 2021

She’s funny, smart, strategic, and telegenic. Those are ingredients for success in many careers.

Oh my, media peeps. Get over yourselves. This kid has a massive online following and that puts her in a much stronger negotiating position than Jenny Journalism School grad.

But whine on if that makes you feel better. Edward R. Murrow ain’t walking through that door anymore.

Social influence, online ubiquity, and clickbait clout are today’s credibility credentials.

Enjoy the ride, Addison. 100 million sycophants = marketing power. That’s the modern business model for journalism.

Those with actual journalism degrees still wind up doing a majority of “stories” like this sad episode of Nappin’ Nana.