When teens go online, they like to find out about music, celebrities,
sports, fashion and what their friends are doing.
But that's not all.
They also care about the news, the kind that's good for you.
Yes, they're eating ice cream, but also string beans.
That's
contrary to what some scholars and news executives would have you
believe, that teens aren't turned on to news.
A majority of American high school students say they're plugged into
mainstream news on the Internet at least weekly, according to a
new survey [PDF], released Sept. 22, the
"2006 Future of the First Amendment." Eleven percent of the students say they consume news online every day.
The survey, funded by the
John S.
and James L. Knight Foundation, is a
follow-up to a
2004 study that drew broad attention when it
revealed that nearly three of four students didn't know how they felt
about the First Amendment or took its rights for granted.
Not only are young people far more likely than they were two years ago
to take classes dealing with First Amendment issues, they also go to
traditional sources for their news. And contrary to what we hear or
assume, they don't think blogs are accurate.
The survey said:
- Fifty-one percent of teens consume news -- mostly traditional, string-bean news -- on the Internet at least once a week.
- Sixty-six percent get news and information at least once a week from the
news pages of Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft and America Online; 45 percent from
national TV news sites; and 34 percent from local daily newspaper sites. Weblogs? Thirty-two percent.
Internet news is only one type of news they consume:
- Forty-five percent of teens think TV is the overall best source of news, followed by newspapers (23 percent).
- Forty-five percent also see TV as the most accurate source of news and the easiest to use.
- Only 1 percent think blogs are the most accurate news source.
The survey found that 46 percent of teens say they also get news
and information from entertainment programs, like
"The Daily Show," "The
Colbert Report" and
"South Park," at least once a week.
Some may find that cause for alarm. My interpretation: Young people are
so interested in news, they enjoy it when it's presented in an
entertaining way. As further proof, the survey said only 10 percent of
teens are "not interested at all" in the news, though a big chunk of
them gave the reason that "the news is not presented in an interesting
way."
The digital revolution appears to be increasing, not decreasing, the
connection between teens and news. Teens have the ability to consume
and create news 24/7. So they're doing a diverse array of multimedia
stories that affect them, and because of their reliance on traditional
news sources, high journalistic standards are a priority.
This is what they're writing about, in a sampling of online high school
newspapers across the country: whether a charter school should be
allowed to continue to use a selective admissions policy; a principal
turning down
Lifetime television's offer to film its upcoming reality
show at the school; Pepsi vending machines replacing Coke on campus.
This is what they're broadcasting, from the 2005-06 winners of the
National Student Television Award for Excellence, known as the "Student
Emmy Awards":
- "Kristina Sliman: That's My Life," the story of a young girl living
with cerebral palsy. Amherst Steele High School, Amherst, Ohio.
- "The Need for Speed," a documentary by George Jenkins High School,
Lakeland, Fla., about local teens' attraction to speedracing and the
dangers of speeding and illegal street races.
Teens are plugged into news. They're just connected in different ways.
Denise Tom is journalism program specialist at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in Miami.
