Understanding young news audiences at a time of rapid change
For more than a decade, the Reuters Institute Digital News Report has documented fundamental shifts in how young people (defined in this report as those aged 18–24) interact with and think about news during a period of significant technological, media, and political transformation. As ‘social natives’, this demographic is moving away from traditional news media like television, print, and even news websites, gravitating instead towards a social-first and audiovisual-heavy media diet, where news is one type of content consumed among many.
While much has been said about the perceived lack of news engagement among younger people, our research also documents a greater sense of alienation among this segment of the public, some of whom find traditional news irrelevant, difficult to understand, or unfairly biased against their demographic. Mismatches between journalistic output and the expectations of young audiences highlight the need for newsrooms to examine both the question of how to reach young people where they are and, equally important, how to do so with news they find relevant, engaging, and ultimately worth their attention. Meeting the needs of this segment is crucial, not just for the current stability of the journalism industry, but also for the future of democratic societies as young individuals transition through adulthood (Røsok-Dahl and Ihlebæk 2024).
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