The digital explosion has left the media landscape pockmarked with millions of sources supplying what is described as news. But is it?
I guess it depends on your definition of news.
Diana Mitsu Klos of the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) asked that question in a recent informal survey of hundreds of diverse students whose work appears on a high school journalism site, as well as some older folks who visit the site.
How do you define news? Here are some of the answers from the teenage respondents, members of what the researchers call the Milllennials in the generational evolution, those born from 1977 to 1996.
Three 14-year-olds:
“Reporting new information to educate and inform the general public.”
“Boring.”
“An accurate and multiple-sided report of the things happening locally and globally.”
Four 15-year-olds:
“A way to see what is happening in the world, allowing you to pick up other people’s experiences to learn.”
“New information about events that may affect the audience that it is intended for.”
“Sometimes exciting.”
“Something that changes the way things are now.”
Six 16-year-olds:
“News is everything that is different and exciting; something that is novelistic, that no one knows about.”
“It’s something that informs you about the happenings in the world around you. It’s not always the latest crime. It could be a fashion article. It’s still news.”
“I define it as things that are happening in the places around me that are interesting to hear about.”
“I define news as the update of events occurring in society and in the world in which we live.”
“A big action that has taken place in our country.”
“Facts written in a form that the people are interested to read.”
Five17-year-olds:
“Information previously checked by correct sources that is submitted to the world.”
“News, the way I see it, is the connection between every person from every corner of the world. It’s the information and events that form bridges between me and any other person or place. We need news to bond us together and make the world smaller.”
“An event that causes a definite emotion or reaction from others.”
“News is an essential part of a free society (especially a democracy), a counterbalance to government.”
“News is insight, understanding and up-to-date information on things that are important to you.”
Two 18-year-olds:
“Just the facts. 5W’s and an H.”
“Within the confines of the following criteria: Oddity, human interest, prominence, sex, timeliness and proximity. Anything that falls into those categories and more could be considered news. It depends on who’s reading it; readers ultimately decide what is news.”
And two 19-year-olds:
“News is anything I can say, ‘I didn’t know that’ to.”
“Almost anything I haven’t heard before, blogs, TV, radio, print, etc.”
The thing that really struck me as I read through the survey were the examples of news that is important to these teenagers. More often than not, politics, environmental issues and updates on the Iraq war were included. Then came sports, entertainment, school news and local events.
Granted, these are young people who have shown an interest in journalism and who get their news from sources ranging from cable and network newscasts, from local newspapers to The New York Times, from MySpace to the “Daily Show,” from NPR to Yahoo News, from their phones to blogs, from classmates and from their parents. They are part of a generation that gets news and information from more sources than any generation in our history.
But the interesting thing I found in the ASNE survey is that the Millennials’ definitions of news didn’t differ from that of the 35- to 62-years-olds who answered the same questions. And the subjects of interests to both groups were similar.
A report from the Frank N. Magid Associates research firm says that Millennials are confident in their ability to succeed. They are smarter than previous generations, collaborative team players and they like their parents. They are optimistic about their place in the world, they aren’t rebellious, they are social networkers. And they are 83 million strong.
And by the way, when the older Millennials share information, television news and newspaper content, print and online, are among the top three sources they use. The third? Friends.
For an old pre-Baby Boomer who has had journalism on his dance card for more than 60 years, this is pretty encouraging stuff.
