More and more, news about celebrities and public figures is emerging outside the mainstream — often through long-form, wide-ranging interviews with niche creators.
Recently, Taylor Swift announced her forthcoming album on her boyfriend’s podcast and Joaquin Phoenix sat down with podcaster Theo Von for an unlikely candid exchange. Meanwhile, Hunter Biden is collaborating with YouTuber Andrew Callaghan in an effort to reclaim his name.
More and more, news about celebrities and public figures is emerging outside the mainstream — often through long-form, wide-ranging interviews with niche creators.
“People are tired of the old formulas,” says Peter Mancusi, an associate teaching professor of journalism at Northeastern University and crisis management expert.
In 2024, 21% of Americans obtained their news from social media sources, with 37% of those ages 18 to 29 saying they regularly picked up news from influencers, according to Pew Research.
But more than just news, a thriving ecosystem of podcasts, talk shows and alternative publishers provides a specialized platform for celebrities to shape their image and promote their personal brand — all while avoiding the sometimes messy encounters with an adversarial press, Mancusi says.
And the examples of too many to name. For the likes of Phoenix, a deeply private person who has been described as “elusive” and “mysterious,” the 90 minutes he spent with Von resulted in a surprising rapport between two contrasting personalities.
This week, actress Aubrey Plaza opened up to Amy Poehler on “Good Hang with Amy Poehler” about losing her husband to suicide. It was the first time Plaza spoke about Jeff Baena since his death in January.
For Biden, a surprise appearance on Callaghan’s “Channel Five with Andrew Callaghan” turned out to be more than three hours of raw testimony — covering everything from his struggle with cocaine addiction to his feelings toward actor George Clooney, who penned an op-ed calling for former President Joe Biden to step down during last year’s presidential election.
For years, Hunter Biden’s personal life and business dealings had been the subject of intense public scrutiny. In June 2024, he was convicted on three federal felony gun charges after lying about his drug use on a firearm purchase form. In September, he pleaded guilty to federal felony tax-related charges.
In a controversial move, President Joe Biden granted his son a full and unconditional pardon in December 2024 — covering all federal offenses he had committed or may have committed over the last decade.
Biden’s discussions with Callaghan come across as an apparent effort to “reclaim his agency and his name” after a very public fall from grace, Mancusi says.
“I think that is what he is mainly doing,” Mancusi says. “These podcasts and phenomena like them provide a safe space for people like Hunter Biden and Jaoquin Phoenix to say what they want to say in a less formal atmosphere — where you can really talk.”
It’s a stark contrast, in Biden’s case, to his scattered public appearances to and from court hearings — and the occasional lawyer-vetted statement.
“When you’re doing a little scrum in front of a courthouse, it’s very controlled and very formal,” he says. “This is different.”
Mancusi leads media training sessions for executives across the country. While shifts in the media landscape have brought new and evolving public relations challenges, the overall environment is, on the whole, more celebrity-friendly and less politically charged, he says.
“When you media-train people, you’re really getting people to say a few key things and then to repeat them,” he says. “We’re now in a media environment that is more free-form, and more and more celebrities and public figures in particular seem to be reaping the benefits of that.”
Part of the reason, Mancusi suggests, is the sheer volume of comedian-hosted podcasts, such as those by Joe Rogan, Tim Dillon, Andrew Schulz, Von, Bill Burr and Bobby Lee.
“What’s interesting to me about that phenomenon is that stand-up comics spend their lives on the road saying sometimes outrageous things,” he says. “They’re used to lampooning both sides — they’re equal opportunity critics.”
He continues: “So, nothing really bothers them. They don’t have this conventional sense of what should or should not be talked about or broadcast to an audience of people.”
“And I’m not saying that anyone should just go on these podcasts and say anything they want,” he adds. “But I don’t know that someone like Hunter or Jaoquin could have been more open about their emotions and feelings had the format been different.”
It’s no surprise, Mancusi says, that some observers view former Vice President Kamala Harris’s decision to skip Joe Rogan’s podcast as a misstep — even in what was an incredibly abbreviated campaign for the White House.
“That’s what happens when you have too many consultants in the room,” he says.