Young People Want Their News to be More Fun

As newsrooms try to figure out how to lure younger audiences to their platforms, a new report asks a different question: What do young people actually want their news to be like? The answer is, well, more fun. (Wouldn’t we all like that?)

How do you like your news?

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford analyzed a decade’s worth of its own research about the news consumption habits of 18- to 24-year-olds from around the world, compared to those of adults ages 55 and up. Both groups prioritized local and international news, but younger adults ranked “fun news” (satire and things that make them laugh) fifth, while older adults ranked it tenth.

In addition to being informative, young people also want their news to be entertaining, and while they generally think the media does a good job of keeping them informed, it’s less successful at making them feel better about the world. As a result, some news publishers have taken note of this desire for “good news”. OGN observed that this actually started during the days of Covid, when the mainstream media (not OGN, of course) served a relentless onslaught of doom and gloom and traditional newsrooms found that their audiences were turning off in droves.

The authors of this new report note: “The data are clear that young people consume a plethora of media and information, often in more diverse and complex ways. Their growing appetite for audio and visual formats comes with a desire for the intimacy and authenticity of personality-led content. They also tend to be at the forefront of experimentation with new technologies, such as AI, and more open to its use by journalists.”

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