Bryan West, a 35-year-old journalist, was hired by USA Today to work as The Tennesean’s designated Taylor Swift reporter on Nov. 6.
The news outlet announced that they were looking for someone to fill this position on Sept. 12.
“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,” USA Today said in the job listing.
West was hired based on his credentials in journalism and self-proclaimed expertise on Swift. He has previously reported for the Northwestern News Network and has interned at the Today Show and NBC News. He has won two Emmys for his work in production.
While West’s experience in reporting is evident, he and USA Today have faced backlash from Swifties and other journalists regarding his new position. Fans have questioned whether he is the best person for the job.
Because West has described himself as Swiftie, others in the field have questioned whether he is capable of being unbiased.
“I think it could be really hard for him to stay objective in this job,” said Autumn Arnette, a senior mass communication major. “It’s not common for fans to speak in an unbiased way about the celebrities they love, and I feel like this is especially prominent with Swifties. They love her and never have anything bad to say about her. It’s great that such a big fan got this position. I just wonder if that will cause some difficulties for him.”
West addressed his capabilities of staying unbiased when it comes to his new gig, which caused some backlash in itself. In his video application, West listed some songs of Swift’s that he did not like, one of these being “It’s Nice to Have a Friend.”
Variety quoted West as having named the song “It’s Good to Have a Friend,” causing Swifties to believe that West was exaggerating his knowledge and love of Swift. Although this was announced to have been an error made by Variety’s publication team, some fans are still questioning West’s validity as a Swiftie.
“In his application video, he gave a lot of reasons as to why he is so qualified for this job, but a lot of these seem like they could have been made up,” said Zoe Demetry, a senior marketing major. “Anyone can look up the things that Swifties do or obsess about and say, ‘Hey, I do that,’ just to get the job. He just seemed to exaggerate everything.”
The position being filled by a man has also been a large topic of conversation, with some thinking that the position should have gone to a woman.
One Swiftie, April Glick Pulito, who happens to work in political communications, took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to post lyrics from Swift’s song “The Man.”
“I’m so sick of running as fast as I can, wondering if I’d get there quicker if I was a man,” Pulito said.
In response, the newspaper chain said that they do not discriminate
A similar role covering all things Beyoncé has also been announced by USA Today. The position has yet to be filled. Until then, West will likely set the precedent for coveted roles in journalism covering a single celebrity.
