By Isabella Simonetti

Steps away from the carefully coiffed and formally dressed television news reporters covering the Sean "Diddy" Combs sex-trafficking trial, another gaggle of correspondents assembles, filming posts for such platforms as YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.

Among those gossiping, opining and joking amid the array of smartphones propped up on tripods outside the federal courthouse are a woman wearing a red wig and Louis Vuitton fanny pack, and a man in a fedora, Yeezy boots and ripped jeans. Nearby, a man sporting a Kermit the Frog cap is livestreaming.

They have Substacks, podcasts and YouTube channels built for buzzy cultural moments and know that to many of their followers, takes can be more interesting than facts. This new kind of broadcaster -- the social-media influencer -- aims to entertain as much as inform, often winning the attention of millions of Americans interested in the day's events but uninterested in getting their news from legacy media.

"Diddy has a different confidence today," Samson Crouppen, who has more than 480,000 followers on TikTok, said in a recent video, which has notched more than 370,000 views. Another of his posts has reached 2.8 million.

Crouppen had never covered a court case before Combs's. A comedian and social-media consultant from Los Angeles, he describes himself on social media as the "#1 Comedy Journalist." He refers to his reports from the Combs trial as "Daily Diddy-lations."

In the sex-trafficking trial, the hip-hop mogul faces accusations that he ran a criminal enterprise coercing women into drug-fueled sex parties. Combs has denied any wrongdoing. A representative for Combs said the events were threesomes, not sex parties.

His lawyers have said that the sex was consensual and that Combs didn't commit sex trafficking. So far, the trial has included testimony from such high-profile figures as Combs's ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura and the musician Kid Cudi.

In his videos, Crouppen has called Combs the "Diddler" and said he stands for "independent journalism not bought by the legacy media."

Crouppen said he would acknowledge and apologize when he makes an error. "When you screw stuff up people correct you, and it creates engagement," he said.

Influencers outside the courthouse in Manhattan have raised thousands of dollars from fans looking to support their work. Their dispatches from the Combs trial are often heavy on personal impressions and suspicions, and short on such traditional journalism staples as fact-checking and comments from all sides.

Emilie Hagen, who has been covering the trial on Substack and Instagram, said mainstream reporters are careful what they say. And she said she is focusing on the facts. "But the majority of people don't want that. They want new media to be more salacious," she said.

Hagen, based in Los Angeles, has a journalism degree and makes much of her living as a content creator. She has been covering the trial in New York, using $3,000 in funding from her more than 134,000 Instagram followers and Substack subscribers.

In an Instagram video, she interviewed a woman who said she was offered $20 an hour to stand outside the courthouse wearing a shirt supporting Combs. She didn't get comment from Combs's team for the video but included in a subsequent Substack post that a "direct source from Diddy's camp" said neither the star nor his legal team was behind the paid demonstration. The Instagram video has more than 3.6 million views.

Some 52% of TikTok users who were surveyed in 2024 said that they regularly get news on the platform, according to the Pew Research Center.

The change in news-consumption habits stretches beyond pop culture, a longtime staple of social-media postings. Influencers are also now popular sources of information on politics.

During the 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris sought to appeal to voters by appearing on influencer-led podcasts. The Trump administration has let influencers into the White House briefing room.

"They're frustrated with ABC, NBC, CNN, Fox," said Jess Rauchberg, an assistant professor of communication technologies at Seton Hall University. "They want something that feels more real."

Loren LoRosa, a senior news producer on the radio show "The Breakfast Club" who has been covering the trial on social media and on her podcast, "The Latest With Loren LoRosa," recently stood outside the courthouse blending recaps of the day's testimony with personal takes on the lawyers' approaches.

In a video, she contrasted how Combs's lawyers attacked the credibility of one witness while taking a different approach with another witness, Kerry Morgan, a former friend of Ventura. The defense "thought that this was going to prove a lot of the points they wanted to prove. They let her rock," LoRosa said.

LoRosa was wearing a hoodie and gold bracelets in the video. She said in an interview that her more than 225,000 Instagram followers like to see what outfits she is wearing and are interested in her personally, "not just the facts."

Write to Isabella Simonetti at isabella.simonetti@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 24, 2025 10:00 ET (14:00 GMT)

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