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JOS19
News Consumption Redefined: Age Groups andMedia Use Patterns
PP 438
How Unique Are Young News Users? The News Behaviors of Young People Compared to Other Age Groups
K. Kats
1
, N. Drok
1
, L. Hermans
1
1
Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, School of Media, Zwolle, Netherlands
In the last decade there is a growing concern about the decline in young people’s use of news media. This decrease of news media use has consequences for
the way in which young people obtain information they need to practise democratic citizenship. Former research has associated the decreasing news media
use with different developments. Some are directly linked to technology such as the increase of cheap and mobile alternatives. Others refer to the news
content, as former studies indicate that young people have a decreasing sense of being represented and experience a too strong focus on the institutional
approach. Or to social changes, of which it is claimed that it leads to young people who are less interested in social and political issues, have less faith in
traditional forms of public authority and are less active in social participation than previous age cohorts. Most of former research towards explanations for
low news use by youth is qualitative and didn’t compare young to elder news consumers in one study. In this quantitative study we will contribute to this
omission. The question is how young news consumers (15–29) differ from other age groups in their news interest, use and preferences. We used data from
our 2014 national survey (N=4160) on news interest (10-point scale), news media use (18 items off and online news media platforms and social media)
and news preferences (14 items).Young people (divided in two age group: adolescents, 15–24 and young adults, 25–29) were compared on these concepts
to three other age groups classified in life phase (adults 30–39; middle aged 40–59; elderly 60–79). Results show an aberrant pattern of the adolescents
related to the other age groups. Adolescents are less interested in news and make less use of classical news media. Young adults however, appear to have
an interest for news and use of news that is close to those of older age groups. Differences between age groups concerning their use of online news media
appear to be small. For stand alone news sites, Facebook and Twitter, age has a negative impact. Furthermore, both adolescents and young adults hardly
deviate from other age groups on their preferences of news. For example, both adolescents and elderly prefer more inclusive journalism: more diversity
of perspectives, sources and topics. We can conclude that young people deviate from other age groups but the differences are less major than supposed.
Adolescents differ from other age groups concerning their news interest and news use, young adults differ less. Both adolescents and young adults appear
to have the same news preferences as other age groups. Therefore the image rised out of literature of young people as a unique news consuming group
must be nuanced.
PP 439
Understanding the Millennial Way: Implications of Young User’s Volatile Media Practices for Journalism Practice
L. Kramp
1
, S. Weichert
2
1
University of Bremen, ZeMKI, Bremen, Germany
2
Hamburg Media School / Macromedia University of Applied Sciences, Journalism, Hamburg, Germany
‘Millennials’ are regarded as crucial for the future development of the news environment (cf. Poindexter 2012). Attracting young media users is in many
respects challenging for established news organizations like newspaper publishers and broadcasting in
stitutions:Withdeclining readership of mass distrib‑
uted news products, especially young cohorts do not necessarily develop an affinity to legacy media like former generations did (cf. MPFS 2015; Duggan
2015a,b). Instead, they tend to turn towards digital media affordances that are not necessarily provided by established news organizations, but might
rather lack a journalistic background (e.g. user generated content by‘YouTube stars’; marketing, public relations or propaganda content disseminated virally
through social networks; direct messaging/group communication etc.). Furthermore, a considerably large body of surveys suggests that the respective
‘millennial’ cohorts, born between the early 1980’s and the late 1990’s, are not at all a group of coherent interests and habits, but on the contrary as het‑
erogeneous in their life plans as they are volatile in their media preferences and motifs (cf. Albert et al. 2015; American Press Institute et al. 2015; Deloitte
2016; Zukunftsinstitut 2015). The proposed paper will focus on a qualitative study of media use habits of adolescents and young adults in Germany that
were born between 1981 and 2000. The study focuses on four major transitional life stages that can be connected to school graduation (b. 1996–2000),
job training and university education (1990–1995), early career (1985–1989) and establishment phase (1980–1984). The study pursues a non-restrictive
perspective in terms of its interest in the types of media used, their functionality and the gratifications sought. Therefore, the study is open to various kinds
of media affordances that are used among the younger population as sources of news which they deem relevant for their everyday life. It also addresses
the fundamental question about their perception of what news actually means to them. The study is based on the theoretical assumption that we live
in a multitude of increasingly complex communicative figurations, i.e. communicatively constructed social interdependencies, and therefore use a broad
variety of technical communication media for many purposes (cf. Hepp/Hasebrink 2014; Kramp 2015). Based on this, it is of specific concern, how and why
the cohorts in question favour some media affordances over others when it comes to information needs, how they cope with the ever increasing multi-mo‑
dality of mediatized life while navigating the news ecosphere and whether stable patterns in media use can be identified in connection to their life stage.
The qualitative study design comprises moderated focus group discussions with a sample of ca. 30 ‘millennials’, individual in-depth interviews with ac‑
companying drawings of network maps and subsequent compiling of media diaries by the interviewees. This inductive multi-method design with a strong
emphasis on everyday media practices of adolescents and young adults with different gender, education and social backgrounds offers a basic (required)
understanding of expectations and demands by young media users with respect to news sources. Implications of the results for the further development
of journalism practice and disseminating news will be discussed.