Answer Details

On TikTok, your safest bets for U.S. politics are the accounts run by established news organizations with clear editorial standards. I’d build a core feed around these, then layer in individual creators you’ve vetted yourself. ### 1. Highest-trust “straight news” org accounts to prioritize These don’t make them perfect, but they do have professional editors, fact-checking, and corrections processes behind what you see on TikTok: * **Associated Press – @APNews** AP is a wire service used by other newsrooms; its TikTok account focuses on explainers and key politics stories (they explicitly say they’re putting AP stories on TikTok, including midterm election explainers). ([The Associated Press][1]) * **The Washington Post – @washingtonpost** One of the earliest big U.S. outlets on TikTok; their account has ~1.8–1.9M followers and is known for mixing humor with serious explainer content about U.S. politics and policy. ([milkkarten.net][2]) * **The New York Times – @nytimes** The Times joined TikTok later than some competitors but now uses it for short explainers on major stories (elections, mass shootings, immigration, etc.). ([Nieman Lab][3]) * **PBS NewsHour – search “PBS NewsHour” on TikTok** PBS NewsHour is consistently rated among the more credible and objective U.S. TV news programs, and they actively promote TikTok and short-form video as part of their distribution. ([YouTube][4]) * **Major broadcast networks’ news divisions – @abcnews, @cbsnews, @nbcnews** ABC, CBS, and NBC are among the most-used national TV news sources in the U.S., and each runs news and politics content across social platforms, including short-form video. ([YouGov][5]) * **Others worth sampling (search by name on TikTok):** * **Reuters** – global wire service; heavily used by other outlets. ([X (formerly Twitter)][6]) * **USA Today** – national outlet that, like WaPo and NYT, has invested in TikTok-native formats. ([ResearchGate][7]) * **Politico, Axios** – both specialize in politics/policy and are widely cited in D.C.; they cover TikTok itself a lot and produce social-first explainers even if their TikTok handles aren’t as dominant as AP/WaPo. ([Politico][8]) If your goal is “trust first, vibes second,” I’d start with AP, Washington Post, PBS, NYT, and one of the big networks, then add others as needed. --- ### 2. Creator-style political news that’s closer to journalism Most TikTok political content comes from individual “news influencers,” not newsrooms. Pew and Reuters Institute both find that these influencers now supply news to about 1 in 5 U.S. adults, especially under 30, but most don’t have formal journalism backgrounds and often lean ideologically. ([Pew Research Center][9]) If you want to sample creator-driven news while still aiming for relative reliability: * **UnderTheDeskNews – @underthedesknews (V Spehar)** Spehar is widely covered as a journalist / explainer: they were invited by the White House to influencer briefings on legislation and elections, cover congressional hearings, and run a cross-platform news explainer brand. ([Wikipedia][10]) Caveat: it’s still personality-driven; treat it as analysis + explainer, not your only source. I’d treat **all** other partisan creators (left, right, or “anti-woke,” etc.) primarily as *commentary*, even when they call themselves “news.” Studies show many of the biggest news influencers lean ideologically, and only a minority have newsroom training. ([Reuters Institute][11]) --- ### 3. How to quickly vet any TikTok political account Because TikTok’s algorithm happily surfaces low-quality or partisan content, I’d run each new account through a quick checklist: 1. **What’s the underlying institution?** * Prefer: AP, Reuters, PBS, NPR, major national papers and networks. * Use more caution: solo personalities or advocacy orgs, especially if they never link out to full articles or documents. 2. **Do they separate news from opinion?** * Trust more: “Here’s what SCOTUS ruled; here’s the vote breakdown; here’s the quote,” with sources on-screen. * Trust less: “This proves [side] is evil / stupid,” with no sourcing or only screenshots of other influencers. 3. **Can you verify a random claim in 30 seconds?** * Take one factual claim from a video (vote count, bill number, poll figure) and see if AP, Reuters, WaPo, NYT, or PBS report the same thing. If they don’t, downgrade trust. 4. **Do they ever correct themselves?** * Accounts that post visible corrections or updates are more trustworthy than ones that quietly delete or ignore errors. 5. **Is the content mostly “outrage” or mostly “information”?** * Persistent “owning” of the other side and culture-war bait is a red flag for reliability, even if some facts are accurate. --- ### 4. A simple setup If you want a practical, low-maintenance setup: 1. Follow: **@APNews, @washingtonpost, @nytimes, PBS NewsHour, @abcnews, @cbsnews, @nbcnews, Reuters.** 2. Add 1–2 explainer creators (e.g., **@underthedesknews**) once you know their perspective. 3. For any particularly spicy claim, cross-check on AP / Reuters / PBS before you internally treat it as “fact.” If you tell me what kind of political content you prefer (dry policy explainers, horse-race, media criticism, etc.), I can narrow this to a shorter, tailored follow list. [1]: https://www.ap.org/the-definitive-source/announcements/from-the-telegraph-to-tiktok/?utm_source=chatgpt.com "From the telegraph to TikTok - The Associated Press" [2]: https://www.milkkarten.net/p/inside-the-washington-post-tiktok?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Inside The Washington Post TikTok Multiverse" [3]: https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/01/nytimes-is-now-on-tiktok/?utm_source=chatgpt.com "@nytimes is now on TikTok | Nieman Journalism Lab" [4]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m48EliD2Gc&utm_source=chatgpt.com "PBS News Weekend full episode, Nov. 16, 2025" [5]: https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/52272-trust-in-media-2025-which-news-sources-americans-use-and-trust?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Trust in Media 2025: Which news sources Americans use ..." [6]: https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1757648420041351482?utm_source=chatgpt.com "TikTok to ramp up fight against fake news, covert influence ..." [7]: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355429978_Testing_the_waters_TikTok%27s_potential_for_television_news?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Testing the waters: TikTok's potential for television news" [8]: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/06/trump-vance-return-to-tiktok-00595203?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Trump, Vance return to TikTok after monthslong hiatus" [9]: https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2024/11/18/americas-news-influencers/?utm_source=chatgpt.com "America's News Influencers" [10]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_Spehar?utm_source=chatgpt.com "V Spehar" [11]: https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news-creators-influencers/2025?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Mapping news creators and influencers"