Even a Celebrity Journalist Can’t Have an Opinion

Post-Millennials have exhibited decreasing levels of news usage but increased consumption of news via social media, more pronounced than the changes in older cohorts. These changes raise questions about the role of media skepticism and the recognition and evaluation of journalists and nonjournalist information sources. This study employs an experimental design to examine how media branding influences Post-Millennials’ assessments of credibility, objectivity, and evaluations of the individual and information presented on a Twitter feed. Results demonstrate the continued value and weight of traditional news sources while at the same time providing insight into the limits and boundaries of actors within those systems. </jats:p

Examining Overconsumption, Competitive Consumption, and Conscious Consumption from 1994 to 2004

Taken together, Robert Putnam’s work on the decline of social capital (2000) and Juliet Schor’s insights about the rise of “the new consumerism” (1999) suggest a shift in values in which our responsibilities as citizens have taken a backseat to our desires as consumers. This article complicates this shift in civic and consumer culture by examining generational differences in overconsumption, competitive consumption, and conscious consumption between 1994 and 2004. Using survey proxies for these concepts from the annual DDB Needham Life Style Study, the authors find that Generation X exhibits the highest rates of overconsumption and competitive consumption while also displaying the lowest rates of conscious consumption. Notably, the trends for these three aspects of consumer behavior vary in terms of overtime stability, general tendency, and economic responsiveness. These differing patterns of spending and consumption have far-reaching implications for society as a whole, particularly as the Civic Generation fades, the Boomers move out of the workforce, and Generation X becomes mature and culturally dominant. </jats:p