The Reuters Institute has released a report on the relationship between younger audiences and the news. The report commissioned along with the strategic insight agency Craft conducted qualitative research with 72 people aged 18–30 (24 per country) in Brazil, the UK, and the US. The research included news diaries, screen recordings, blogging, vlogging, and in-depth interviews with young participants representing a range of demographic traits, life stages, and news habits.

“Instead of speaking about young people as one, this report details a kaleidoscopic variety of news behaviours and attitudes as well as topical and executional preferences –driven by a fragmented news media landscape, a proliferation of news formats and brands, and the natural diversity of this group,” notes Reuters.

The five findings of the report are:

1. For young people, news can be ‘narrow’ or ‘broad’.

2. Some young people selectively avoid ‘narrow,’ ‘serious’ news – at least some of the time.

3. Many factors – both contextual and personal – influence a young person’s news consumption preferences and behaviours.

4. Young people are highly sceptical of most information and often question the ‘agenda’ of news purveyors

5. There is little consistency in what ‘young people’ want in terms of format – it is usually a matter of personal taste.

Reuters found that news publications or brands cannot please the needs of all young people but can recognise the reading or viewing preferences of young people and can curate information specifically for younger people’s tastes who prefer viewing news from a range of formats such as video, photographs and audio-based platforms.

Read the full report here.

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