Natalie Perez
Audio By Carbonatix
USA Today captured the imagination of music fans on Wednesday by announcing a new staff position: “Taylor Swift reporter.”
“We are looking for an energetic writer, photographer and social media pro who can quench an undeniable thirst for all things Taylor Swift with a steady stream of content across multiple platforms,” the job listing states. “Seeing both the facts and the fury, the Taylor Swift reporter will identify why the pop star’s influence only expands, what her fanbase stands for in pop culture, and the effect she has across the music and business worlds.”
To Swifties everywhere, the job sounds like a dream come true. With the excitement, though, came the backlash as many on social media were quick to point out that Gannett, USA Today‘s parent company, is fresh off a string of layoffs. At a time that many communities are severely lacking in local coverage, some say, it’s wasteful to hire one person to write only about Taylor Swift.
Nashville is getting a Taylor Swift reporter
Memphis is still without an investigative reporter https://t.co/lmamf8Vrjq
— Laura D. Testino ã€½ï¸ (@ldtestino) September 12, 2023
USA Today responded to this backlash by posting a call for a “Beyoncé reporter” the very next day.
Outside of the context of where a need for exclusive Taylor Swift reporting stands in the larger news landscape, the job qualifications alone will raise some eyebrows. The position calls for a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree, five years of newsroom experience, a “firm command” of AP style and the preferred ability to report in multiple languages. And candidates also need to be Taylor experts, no less.
The Venn diagram of talented and highly experienced reporters and people who are only interested in writing about a single person ad infinitum is two circles on opposite sides of the world.
If USA Today is truly interested in elevating a superfan to such an esteemed position, the paper is going to have to work on its pitch. While the required background is obviously ideal for a journalism candidate, the perfect resume won’t save anyone from being eaten alive by the fandom. We recommend the following attributes to consider when going through the piles of applications.
For one thing, interested candidates should seriously consider protecting their identity. Swifties consider themselves a tight-knit community that’s all about friendship bracelets and female empowerment. While that can be true, they are also one of the most intense fanbases in music and will lash out at anyone who isn’t on board with the Swift agenda. The listing for this job calls for someone who will report without bias, which could mean being critical when necessary.
Furthermore, Swifties are not a monolith, and there is much disagreement on what it looks like to properly support Taylor Swift and even how to interpret her music. Any viable candidate will need to tackle controversial subjects such “Kaylor,” the name given to her friendship with Karlie Kloss – which has yet to be resolved into a satisfying ending for those speculating about the supposed falling out -the Karma album conspiracy and the Eras Tour clock theory with diplomatic finesse. (If all of that was gibberish to you, you’re not qualified.)
All of these topics and others are deeply polarizing to a subset of hyper-online Taylor Swift fans and could get you labeled “problematic” if you make the wrong camp mad. Seeing as there’s no way to please everyone, it might be best to write under a pseudonym, delete your social media and maybe live in the woods.
Being bilingual might be helpful when reporting abroad, but the only language a Taylor Swift reporter really needs to speak is “Easter egg.” It’s impossible to fully understand Swift’s relationship with her fans if you’re not aware of how she talks to them. Though she used to be more accessible on social media and share moments from her life like a normal person, these days she is notoriously private and addresses Swifties through meticulously thought-out clues in her music videos and social media posts. She describes herself as “cryptic and Machiavellian” in her song “Mastermind.”
If you know what you’re looking for, you can find out what Swift’s going to announce next, weeks before it’s official. Fans were able to accurately guess when she would announce the re-releases of Speak Now and 1989 thanks to such clues. A candidate for this position must be able to do the same.
Finally, the traveling aspect of the job is both necessary and desirable, but we would urge USA Today to allow time for its reporter to get their ducks in a row. The right person for this job probably doesn’t get out of the house much, much less travel abroad frequently enough to have a current passport.
