News for young people
October 5, 2008 
What is news?
I think news has wide variety of meanings. News focuses on politics, economics, sports and entertainment, and news is provided in newspapers and broadcasted on TV. I also think news include news of family and friends provided by social networking sites, like Facebook or Myspace. However, are these news on social networking sites meaningful and useful?
I found an article,”Maybe it’s a ‘good thing’ that young people are following the news less ” in The Future of News. As New York Times says , less young adults and teenagers are following the news than ever. Steve Boriss, the author, says that it is not bad thing against NY Times. He says,
it is simply not true that young people are getting less news than ever — they’re just getting less of what the journalism community calls “news.”
As Boriss says in his article, certainly, young people know less about the “formal” news, such as political or economic news. And, they are more interested in the news on social networking sites. I think the hyperlocal news is one of the opportunities for young people to know how to get information from the news. But, I don’t think the news is the place where they are aware of what happens in the world and think about the world through the news.
Thus, I don’t think that it is good thing that young people are following the news less.
I found very interesting information that is tied to this topic. Probably it is true that, compared to the past, young people don’t follow news nearly as much. However, in the State of the News Media report (http://www.stateofthenewsmedia.org/2008/narrative_online_economics.php?cat=3&media=5) an interesting argument points out that a younger generation (18 to 29 years old) usually watches online videos that are considered a comedy (The Daily Show or The Colbert Report). Some of those videos are a mixture of news and comedy which might indicate that in the case of the newer generations the most effective way of news delivery might not be the traditional one.
Funny you should ask the question, “What is news?” I asked a similar question in one of my blogs. Not so long ago, this question was very easily answered. It was whatever the gatekeepers say is news. But now, now we get to say what news is. This can also bring up another question though, and that is, “Is this a good thing?” I am beginning to think it is. Although I was one who never thought I would be pondering this question, it makes me realize that some of the best questions we have to answer are the ones we never thought we would!