News Media Consumption Among Gen Y: Findings

The audio component of this story can be found here.

Research objectives and a link to the online survey can be found here.

Written By Adam Eucker and Reisha Abolofia

Part One: The Survey

Media is currently undergoing a sweeping transformation.  Due to rapid technological advancements, evolving consumer preferences and a struggling economy, journalists are left asking, “Where is my paycheck?”

To investigate how journalists may earn a living in the future, we decided that the first step is to study an important and emerging demographic: current college-aged students.  This generation of 18 to 24-year-olds can be considered the first generation to have used a computer their entire lives, basically growing up as the Internet established itself as one of the most significant forces on the globe.

News Media Consumption Among Gen Y: Survey

Our Survey via Catalyst

Utilizing Online Social Media to Connect to our Surveyors.

The audio component of this story can be found here.

The findings and analysis of this survey can be found here.

This is an interesting poll that was conducted by Reisha Abolofia, Michelle Vu, Ryan Boulanger and Adam Eucker. Our survey’s main objective was to grasp exactly where our age demographic’s feelings are at regarding print and on-line news media.

We pulled surveyors through our Facebook statuses and Twitter updates. It is imperative to have clear assessments of our generation’s news habits. Their interest in news will have an astounding effect on the economic vitality of news organizations and thus their ability to invest in quality journalism.

A few decades ago, adolescent Americans were heavy consumers of news. More than half of the adults under 30 years of age were regular consumers of their daily newspaper. “The notion is that no young person cares about news, and that is wrong,” says Lee Rainie of the Pew Internet and American Life Project. “They’re moving to a different distribution system.”

Similar to our survey results, there was a preference for on-line news media as a primary source. However, with the distribution system provided by the Internet, reliable content is sometimes hard to distinguish from the myriad of outlets available.

I Wrote That?

While my behavior in high school and college has been nothing short of exemplary, I can see the dilemma for some as more and more old school newspaper archives appear online.

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports:

As the papers have begun digitizing their back issues, their Web sites have become the latest front in the battle over online identities. Youthful activities that once would have disappeared into the recesses of a campus library are now preserved on the public record, to be viewed with skeptical eyes by an adult world of colleagues and potential employers. Alumni now in that world are contacting newspapers with requests for redaction. For unlike Facebook profiles — that other notable source of young-adult embarrassment — the ability to remove or edit questionable content in these cases is out of the author’s hands.

[via Chronicle of Higher Education]