Factors influencing young people’s news consumption in Switzerland during normative transitions : a mixed methods study

Impact Summary Prior State of Knowledge: Young Swiss people consume news via their smartphones, which are offered to them through news portals, various apps, or via social media feeds, on which they usually come across news by chance and consume it casually in their free time. Novel Contributions: Structural factors of media environments (i.e., access, regulation, and news consumption routines) play a major role in young people’s news consumption. These structural factors can be influenced by parents, teachers, and peers. Practical Implications: For schools in particular, the paradigm that emerges from these findings is to reduce barriers to accessing news content and to rethink certain regulations, and to make recommendations and establish routines that encourage young people to consume news.Several media studies have investigated the news consumption of young people and discussed where they get information and what motivates them to consume news. Little is known about the structural factors that influence young people’s news consumption behavior. The aim of this paper is to fill this research gap by focusing on structural factors that play a major role in young people’s news consumption. In a mixed-methods study, we investigated Swiss youth media behavior in news consumption from 2019 to 2020 in Switzerland. The results show that news consumption of people aged 12–20 is determined by three structural factors at home and outside: 1. access to media and internet; 2. regulation by parents and teachers, and 3. routines at home or school. These three factors shape the individual media environment and are related to young people’s news consumption behavior. Changes in news consumption behavior were evident in school transitions where young people not only change teachers and get a new peer group but are often involved in a change of location. These changes can be normative transitions which have an influence on the structural factors of the individual media environment and thus influence the news consumption behavior of young people

“It’s a matter of age” : four dimensions of youths’ news consumption

News media in Switzerland are confronted with the challenge of not reaching young people, as youth-specific news platforms and formats are not used by the target group. Our study aims to determine how and where young people can be reached with news. It uses a mixed methods approach to analyze the expectations of young people towards news content and formats and to determine their news consumption patterns. The results show that young people’s news consumption is characterized by four dimensions: 1. duration and times of consumption, 2. news consumption habits and behavior, 3. restrictions, 4. media literacy. The significance of these dimensions varies between three age groups determined through the study. The news consumption of the 12-to-14 year-olds is strongly restricted by parents and school. This group consumes news mainly through media available at home. In the group of 15- to-17 year-olds, parental influence and restrictions decrease, while peer influence increases. This age group spends a lot of time on social media platforms where young people stumble upon news rather accidentally. Between 18 and 20 years of age, news consumption stabilizes, and individual patterns emerge. This age group accesses news via selected apps and social media channels. Young people in Switzerland prefer visual formats like pictures, videos, and memes. When scrolling through social media platforms, they come across news content which arouses their interest in certain information and leads them to search for it on media websites. Swiss Youth wants to be informed about relevant news or topics that are “in vogue”

How to reach Swiss digital natives with news : a qualitative study

The media significantly contribute to shaping public opinion and social participation. However, news media are increasingly confronted with the challenge of not reaching younger people. The present study, "Reaching Swiss Digital Natives with News", aims to providesolutions by analyzing the demands and expectations of young people regarding news, as well as their media behavior, their activities associated with news consumption, and their media literacy. The study was conducted from August 2019 to February 2020 by the IAM Institute for Applied Media Studies at the ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences in collaboration with the Universities of Lugano (USI) and Lausanne (UNIL). The study participants were 66 young people aged 12 to 20 years from three Swiss language regions (German-, French-, and Italian-speaking Switzerland). The data was collected in all three language regions with a qualitative multi-method approach. First, interviews were conducted to gain insight into the everyday world of the young people and determine topics for the focus groups. The focus groups provided information about the participants' understanding of news, attitudes towards news consumption, and news consumption motivations. The subsequent ethnographic and diary studies examined the participants' news consumption in real-time: the ethnographic study recorded the participants' interactions on news topics on social media platforms. During the diary study, the participants documented their news consumption using pictures, texts, and predefined keywords. This procedure provided insights into online- and offline news consumption, as the participants also documented newspaper articles read, television broadcasts watched, and radio broadcasts listened. The diary entries were validated with interviews and recordings of cell phone usage time. The triangulation of the data from all research steps shows that young people's news consumption can be systematized according to four dimensions: duration and times of consumption, news habits and behavior, restrictions, and media literacy. These dimensions varie according to the young people's age, but the boundaries are fluid. 12 to 14 years: This group accesses news primarily via smartphone, which they usually use at home, where Internet access via WLAN is available. The usage time of the smartphone is 2 to 3 hours a day. The use of smartphones, and thus the news consumption of young people, is strongly regulated by parents and school. These restrictions mean that young people hardly ever use online news services. They come into contact with news mainly through media available at home. The primary motivation for news consumption in this age group is the opportunity to talk to parents or at school about news content. Reading news articles is not easy for this age group; the young people need help from parents and teachers. 15 to 17 years: At this age, the parental influence and restrictions decrease, while the influence of peers increases. Adolescents in this age group spend a lot of time on social media platforms where they follow numerous channels and come into contact with news. Wildly popular are Instagram and YouTube. The news is hardly selected; these people consume whatever is accessible. Despite their understanding of rather complex news items, they prefer shorter and easily understandable information units. As soon as young people have a data package, they are almost always online and use their phones up to 6 hours a day, mainly on weekends, vacations, or when commuting on public transport. 18 to 20 years: At this age, the news consumption behavior is stabilizing, and individual patterns are emerging — young people in this age group access news via selected apps and social media channels. News is usually consumed in the morning during a commute, on the way home, and shortly before bedtime. The daily phone usage time is 3 to 4 hours. The interests and motivations for news consumption become more specific. Young people at this age want to understand what is going on, so they can share their knowledge and opinions with peers from special interest groups. Additional language skills enable them to consume news from foreign news providers. Also, young people in this age group critically reflect on their news consumption. The results across all three age groups show that young people prefer visual formats such as pictures and videos. When scrolling on social media platforms, they often come across news content by chance. Memes and Instagram stories are particularly popular in this context. They often motivate the young people to trace back the content and find the original news source. Furthermore, specific news apps are used as news distribution channels. In general, young people want the news to be less negative. They also feel overwhelmed by the large amount of news they are exposed to on a regular basis. They wish for news apps where news items can be selected according to predefined criteria and where they get a summary of the most important topics, illustrated with pictures and short videos. The main motivations for news consumption are passing the time, entertainment, personal interests, and discussing news topics with others. Young people want to be informed to have a say in current, critical issues and topics that are "in vogue." The study resulted in an audience model with personas that depicts and systematizes young Swiss people's news consumption patterns. The model shows that the chance to reach young people with new news formats exists above all in the group of 15 to 17-year-olds. This age group has not yet developed a routine for its news consumption and is very receptive to new news formats