One in 20 teenagers relies heavily on a daily newspaper and only 40 percent of teenagers can be considered attentive to daily news, according to “Young People and News,” a national survey released by the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Teens get more news from cable news programs than from newspapers or even from the internet, according to the report, yet they watch these programs infrequently compared with older Americans. Teens spend a lot of time online, but not necessarily getting news. About a fifth of teens and young adults cited the internet as their main source for news.
The report also suggests that teenagers prefer soft news over hard news, or feature stories to breaking coverage.
See this release for an overview of the report.
This could make a good story. Localize the findings by focusing on
teens at your school. Survey students to find out where they get their news, how much time they spend watching news shows or reading news media. Ask a social studies teacher to give a news quiz to several classes, and graphically report the results in your story. Are students more aware of Paris
Hilton's latest escapades or that terrorists just exploded a bomb in
Glasgow? Perhaps the teacher will discuss results with the class, with you in the room, giving you good material for your story.
Consider keeping a journal of how you consume news and report that in your story in a graphic way. Do you scan a blog or check Google News or listen to news blurbs on the radio?
Don't just interview your friends and string together quotes. Gather facts. Observe. Capture news habits and news awareness and report it in interesting, graphic ways.
Get creative, and
tell us what you do with the idea.
