Have you heard the good news? If you are part of the Millennial Generation, you would probably get the information from social media sites like Facebook and Google.
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| Courtesy of Blogging and the Black Dog |
According to an Ypulse study, 68 percent of Millennials gain information about the news from social media. The study suggest that more than two-thirds (68 percent) of 14 to 30 year-olds get their news information from social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, which is ranked ahead of word of mouth, websites, television and newspapers.
Members of the Y-Generation are used to getting their information at their fingertips. News is likely to reach them via the Internet from their computer, tablet or smartphones. Inaccurate reporting and retracted statements is swiftly moving to keep up with blogs to get a story first. Today, political satire shows like The Colbert Report seem like major newspaper sources. In fact, CNN recently teamed up with Buzz Feed to create a news channel for young adults.
“I’m being quite honest when I say I usually just use Facebook,” says Panayiota Papadopoulous. A student majoring in Spanish Education at Millersville University of Pennsylvania , she says “…I occasionally scroll the interwebs (Internet) for interesting articles or read the paper.”
Ypulse questioned Millennials ages 14 to 30, to get a view on their attitudes towards news, where they are getting it, how confident they are in it, and they can be informed.
The information they found is interesting. For example they found that 66 percent of Millennials “…are not confident in the news they receive is accurate.”
“All information is biased,” says Christian Overman. Overman, a Social Studies Education major at Millersville University of Pennsylvania, stresses that you have to take in news expecting bias. “Everyone knows Fox is biased towards a more conservative view, but conversely CNN is very liberal. “
Compared to social media, the least likely primary sources were radio and newspaper. The study concluded that newspaper is at 33 percent and radio is at 44 percent.
“NPR,” says Derek Smith, a Millersville Alumn. For Smith, there are a number of reasons to tune into National Public Radio. “Least biased, quality sponsorship program, large investigative division, assemble complex stories with an expertise that covers all the bases and opinions that leaves you feeling well informed and minimal questions left unanswered. Oh, and great transition music.”
On the bias of the radio news station he says, “It does have a liberal bias in the sense that it covers the arts and that it still has investigative journalism, no one does that shit anymore. As a Republican, I've found that it covers pro-Republican stores fairly well. In a more important matter, unlike MSNBC, it doesn't make me feel bad to be a white male. And I'm honestly mean that”
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| Courtesy of Vector Copy.com |
The print media industry has declined over the years, with more people on having access to news on their tablets, computers and smartphones. For Millennials, 33 percent actually read the newspaper. In fact, another study conducted by Pew State of the News Media 23 percent of people aged 18 to 24 reported reading a newspaper, according to a NPR article. In addition to this, 10 percent of its hard copy subscribers are ages 18 to 24. Furthermore, The New York Times reports that nine percent of people who are also this age subscribe digitally.
Overman has three news apps on his iPhone 5: BBC, CNN, and Fox. He says, "Newspapers just aren't efficient. Why mess around with massive pieces of paper of outdated information when I can get an immediate update of the most recent information on my phone?"
As for the future of news, according to an Economist report titled, “Back to the Coffee Houses” “…the news industry is returning to something closer to the coffee house. The Internet is making news more participatory, social, divers, and partisan, reviving the discursive ethos of the era before mass media. This will have a profound effects on society and politics."
Courtesy of Ypulse.com
