It's no secret that young people don't get their news in the same way as their elders. They generally prefer social networks and the internet to newspapers and television. The media have understood this and are stepping up their initiatives to attract this audience which has grown up with the internet.
Contrary to popular belief, young people are not turning away from the news. They just want it to reflect their concerns. According to a recent study by the News Media Alliance, Americans between the ages of 21 and 29 would like to read about the climate emergency, women's rights and social justice. "Gen Z wants to see themselves reflected in their news, and they want to feel acknowledged," the US trade organization says.
With this in mind, the Washington Post has announced plans to create a "wellness" department made up of about 15 journalists. It will be overseen by Tara Parker-Pope, who launched the New York Times' "Well" health section. The goal of the new department is to cover a wide range of health and wellness topics with a factual and scientific approach.
While the Post already covers health and medical news, this new section will feature service-oriented articles that answer questions the public may have about mental health, sports and the pandemic. These topics are particularly important to young people, according to Krissah Thompson, the Post's managing editor responsible for diversity and inclusion. "This is what they're telling us that they really want and need from us," she told The Press Gazette.
Another major preoccupation of the Post's readers, especially young people, is the environment and global warming. The American daily newspaper plans to intensify its efforts to address this issue by hiring some 20 journalists. They will "leverage a wide variety of storytelling formats, mediums and social platforms to encourage engagement with diverse audiences of all ages," executive editor Sally Buzbee wrote in a memo.
War in Ukraine through the lens of TikTok
While the Washington Post is broadening its editorial spectrum to attract an increasingly more militant audience, Sky News is relying on TikTok. The British news channel recently crossed the symbolic threshold of one million subscribers on the social network, which has recently become the preferred news source of the younger generation. Quite the feat, given that Sky News posted its first video on the platform in mid-March. The Daily Mail is the only British media outlet to outdo the channel on TikTok, with over 3.7 million followers.
Many internet users follow the TikTok account of Sky News to learn about developments in the war in Ukraine. One of the British channel's most popular videos on the platform is a report from Kiev by Stuart Ramsay. More than 30 million people have watched this 56-second interview with a 21-year-old Ukrainian soldier. "We don't dumb down the content or use a different messenger [on TikTok], we use our same experienced correspondents to explain what's going on and tell the stories of those impacted by war," Cristina Nicolotti Squires, Sky News' director of content, told The Press Gazette.
Other media outlets, like BBC News, have made their way onto the social network, where short news digests have replaced dance challenges since Russian troops invaded Ukraine. Like Sky News, the 24-hour news channel posts mini-videos showing the advance of Russian tanks, the destruction caused by shelling or the daily life of Ukrainians who have stayed behind. One of them, recounting the distress of Iryna, who had to bury her son herself after he was killed by Russian soldiers, has more than 596,000 views on TikTok.
In recent years, traditional media outlets have intensified their efforts to strengthen their online presence, especially on social networks. They hope to seduce a target known as the "digital natives," the young people born after 1984 who grew up with news and information content designed to be read (and especially seen) on a smartphone. And their efforts should pay off. If the younger generations do not necessarily recognize themselves in the current media offer, they say that they are ready to pay for quality news. "Gen Z are up-and-coming news subscribers, and news outlets must be prepared to up their game to attract and keep them as loyal readers," says Rebecca Frank, News Media Alliance vice president, research and insights. "It's not just about the news; it has to be the whole package."
