RSS
Home
Young readers will turn to newspapers, study says
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Young adults who get much of their news from the Internet and social networking sites like Facebook.com plan to dump some of these sources within the next five years and turn to newspapers and other traditional media for information about their world, according to a new study out of the University of Texas.
The study also indicates that newspapers may be losing young readers because they are shortening stories and providing less in-depth reports. According to one finding, newspapers would be advised to abandon those in their 20s who care little about current events and instead bolster their journalistic products to attract young readers who already have a high interest in the news.
The study, which was published in the recent edition of the Newspaper Research Journal, found that the number of college-educated adults ages 18 to 29 who read a newspaper regularly will increase from 14 percent today to an estimated 41 percent in 2013.
Network news viewership is also expected to rise among this group, from 36 percent to 63 percent; and 71 percent of the students who participated in the study said they plan to consume Internet news in five years, up from 58 percent who say they use this source for news today.
According to the study, students plan to turn away from Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and other social networking sites as they get older. For example, while 28 percent of survey respondents said they currently use Facebook.com for news, only 8 percent expect to continue using this source in the future.
"I don't know if it will save newspapers in any kind of sense," said Seth C. Lewis, a doctoral student at the University of Texas and the study's author. "But print is by no means dead."
The study, which asked students what kind of media they use today and what kind they intend to use in five years, contradicts many predictions about newspaper readership, which has been declining rapidly along with revenue. The data was based on a Web survey of 1,222 students at the University of Houston and Texas A&M University.
Lewis acknowledged in an interview that survey respondents may be anticipating an increase in their print newspaper reading habits because they perceive it as a socially desirable activity that "older people do." But he said just the fact that young adults see newspaper reading as a positive activity is an indication that they are not completely turned off by the print medium.
In fact, the study found that students who have a positive perception of news -- that is, students who get personal satisfaction from being informed and view news consumption as an important part of their civic duty -- were significantly more likely to anticipate future use of traditional news sources than students who found news to be boring or too time consuming.
What this means, Lewis said, is that newspapers might be better off trying to attract news junkies with more in-depth stories rather than thinning out and simplifying their product in hopes of reaching readers who are not naturally interested in current events.
"For the news industry at large and print newspapers in particular, these findings offer a glimmer of light amid a fog of declining ratings and readership," Lewis wrote. "If more than 40 percent of young adults expect to become regular newspaper readers in the future, who are these readers and how can they be won over? Perhaps the lesson for the industry is that in trying to attract and hold the elusive young-adult reader, newspapers should narrow their approach. Instead of fashioning quick-read briefs or tabloid editions for time-pressed consumers, newspapers ought to consider if they are chasing the wrong crowd."
Lewis continue: "This study indicates that those who find news to be time-consuming and laborious today are likely to remain turned off to traditional news content, whether in print or online, in the future. Thus, instead of trying to be all things to all young people, newspapers should begin trying to woo those young adults already inclined to becoming future readers... Rather than simply less (e.g. shorter stories), perhaps young adults want more..."
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
