News publishers are confronted with the problem of no longer reaching young people. Our study investigates the news consumption of Swiss adolescents aged 12 to 20 and describes the news culture of young generations in terms of platforms, formats, modes, topics, and language.
News publishers are increasingly confronted with the problem that they no longer reach young people. News for young people has to meet other requirements than those offered by traditional media. Current studies on news behavior of so-called digital natives have shown that smartphones are the main devices for accessing news and information (e.g., Waller et al., 2019; Newman, 2019; Weichert & Kramp, 2017). Young people use smartphones to inform themselves and exchange information, keep in touch with family and friends, and share music, pictures, and videos. Apps and platforms, e.g., WhatsApp, YouTube, and Instagram, are among the top ten applications of interest for the young people. Particularly visual formats are very popular. News has to compete with these attractive platforms and services, which are more or less for free while news publishers are increasingly asking for subscription and payment. These changes in media consumption of young people have an impact on a future news culture. Consequently, a news culture for young generations must differ from a traditional one in terms of platforms, formats, modes, topics, and language. In our contribution, we will present findings from a national study that investigates the news consumption of Swiss adolescents aged 12 to 20. The presentation is based on data collected in 2019–2020 in the three linguistic regions DE, FR, and IT. The news consumption of young people has been investigated through a combination of quantitative, ethnographic, and linguistic methods. The aim is to understand which news formats and channels have the potential to reach young people. Kramp, L., & Weichert, S. (2017). Der Millennial Code: Junge Mediennutzer verstehen – und handeln. Stuttgart: Vistas. Newman, N. (2019). Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2019. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2019-06/DNR_2019_FINAL_1.pdf. Waller, G., Külling, C., Bernath, J., Suter, L., Willemse, I., & Süss, D. (2019). JAMESfocus: Newsund Fake News. https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-3314.
