Oh dude. Not news...

Dan Kennedy, a professor and Northeastern, who writes the MediaNation blog, has an article in the Commonwealth magazine entitled "Plugged in, tuned out".

He quotes research that says though young people are saturated in media, they shy away from news. "16 percent of young adults (ages 18 to 30) read a newspaper every day, compared with 35 percent of those older than 30."

Kennedy says young people's lack of interest in news and resulting shallow knowledge of current affairs represents a threat both to news media and to civic life.

The article explores the reasons for this phenomenon: a) because Americans are marrying, having children and buying homes later in life, and b) because they are used to well designed and easy to use cell phones and other media tools that make newspapers look positively nineteenth century. (Kennedy was on a panel in Boston to discuss this article shortly after it was published. During the discussion one of the panel members raised the additional idea that Americans today see themselves primarily as consumers. A change from a time when Americans saw themselves firstly as citizens.)

Kennedy looks at efforts regional media have made to fight this trend: a) addressing subjects that interest young people, b) looking for local angles on foreign stories, c) making absorbing online interactive content, and d) creating Web 2.0 news products.

Kennedy suggests the Blue Mass. Group, BostonNow, Digg, Reddit and NewsTrust could be hints of what the future of news might look like in a Web 2.0 world, pointing out that young people who've grown up with MySpace and Facebook are accustomed to participating and creating content.

In social media, says Kennedy, the members are accustomed to setting the agenda and its possible they will do this increasingly as they interact with news organizations. "A type of participatory news that could evolve into an example of civic engagement in and of itself."

(Link: Click here to read the article.)