Interesting how solutions-oriented journalism, a key theme of the
public journalism movement, comes up here as a way to boost news
consumption. I'd be particularly interested to know what the
undergrads on this list make of it. Does it accurately describe the
peers you hope will one day be your audience?

Peter Parisi

Stop Scaring Teens With The News
via Techdirt by Dennis Yang on 1/21/08
A recent study reports that while most teenagers describe their online
experiences on YouTube as a "treat," most classify their online news
experiences as stressful or a "reminder of the world's dangers."
Furthermore, most of the teenagers in the study do not actively keep
up with the news. Rarely, if ever, do they go directly to the news
websites, but rather end up there from portals and news aggregators,
and only then if something catches their eye. The report recommends
that news organizations help allay teen angst by making their sites
better springboards for conversations and being more focused on
solutions and problem-solvers. That said, is this really a problem
with online news? Perhaps the way traditional news organizations
approach the news is actually the problem. How many teenagers
regularly watch the evening news? Perhaps news organizations should
study why The Daily Show and Digg are so popular, since both present
news in a more relevant, palatable, and oftentimes, more humorous
fashion. Maybe it's not the online-ness of the news that is the cause
of their waning popularity, but rather, the fact that they are at risk
of becoming irrelevant to a new generation of news consumers.

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-- 
Peter Parisi, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Dept. of Film & Media Studies
Hunter College
695 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10021
212-772-4949
"It is impossible for any of us to be happier individually until we
are all happier collectively." -- Paul Goodman