Obama’s TikTok on banned books leads to varied media coverage

Former President Barack Obama is featured in an Illinois library’s TikTok video that promotes the reading of books banned in some libraries across the U.S. The video was posted by the Kankakee Public Library in the Chicago suburbs.

In the first campaign video, readers are shown holding up books that have been on banned lists across America including Ibram X. Kendi’s “Anti-Racist Baby” and Angie Thomas’ “The Hate U Give.”

Obama also released a statement on social media thanking “the dedicated and hardworking librarians of America” for working “on the front lines.”

“Today, some of the books that shaped my life—and the lives of so many others—are being challenged by people who disagree with certain ideas or perspectives. And librarians are on the front lines, fighting every day to make the widest possible range of viewpoints, opinions, and ideas available to everyone,” he tweeted.

In March, the American Library Association reported the number of demands to censor books hit a record high last year at 1,269 demands. It doubled the 729 challenges reported in 2021.

Obama’s TikTok appearance has generated a lot of media attention. But his intentions behind the campaign are being perceived in different ways depending on the political lean of the news organization reporting on it.

A look at the media landscape of the story shows it is getting a fair amount of attention and the coverage is balanced across left-leaning and right-leaning news outlets.

The difference lies in how the media is telling the story. Depending on the way the news outlet frames their coverage, Obama could be perceived as the librarians’ hero or the supporter of controversial books.

For example, the Washington Post is considered a left-leaning news outlet. The outlet’s headline reads “Obama takes to TikTok to support libraries’ fight against book bans.”

Meanwhile, Breitbart, a right-leaning news site, wrote the headline “Barack Obama defends children’s LGBTQ books as states prohibit them from schools.”

While the politics behind the campaign has taken the media by storm, the video itself is far from viral. It has less than 3,000 views and just over 50 comments after a full day of being posted on TikTok. It’s a relatively slow start as the former president plans to star in more TikToks in libraries across the country. Harris County Public Library posted its own Obama social media video Tuesday morning.