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. Permalink | Comments | Email This Story Things you can do from here: Subscribe to Techdirt using Google Reader Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites -- 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