Whippersnappers

Introduction
When we think of college students, no longer is the image a young fresh face, straight out of high school. These days, college students can be in their late twenties to their mid nineties. So is it safe to generalize and say that college students know less about current news affairs than their parents? It was surprising to find that there were studies that show that younger adults do not care as much about the news as older adults do. In another study, they go to compare how the news habits between the years 1995 and 2006 have changed in people aged 18-29 and older than 65.

Analysis In 2007, a report titled Young People and News was published at the John F. Kennedy School of Business at Harvard. Put together by the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, the study was based off of a survey of 1800 teens selected at random. They selected their respondents-a person supplying information for a survey or questionnaire-randomly and the interviews happened over the phone. The study Comparison of Demographics For Media in 1995,2006 consisted of two surveys done in 1995 and 2006 with 1,006 people in 1995 and 1,010 people in 2006 (Patterson, 2007). They selected their respondents by phone exchange after selecting a zip code at random. If no one would answer the first call, they would add one to the number and keep on adding until someone picked up. Once that occurred, they would select their interviewee by whose birthday came next in the household. The focus of one study was how much news were young people exposed to, and the other was focused on the changes in the demographics of media usage in an 11-year span. The goal of the Harvard study wasn’t to prove that young people didn’t care about the news, because the analysts involved didn’t think that was the case. “‘The notion is that no young person cares about news, and that is wrong.’” (Patterson, 2007 pg 5) The report itself tells us that it does not answer every issue addressed in the paper, but that it builds upon what is already known about the news habits of young people.

Interpretation
In comparison, the study Comparison of Demographics for Media in 1995, 2006 asks three questions: What changed between the years 1995 and 2006 in media usage, how have the patterns of use shifted between those years demographically and what do those changes mean for future use of newspapers specifically (Stemple, Hargrove, 2008,). The Harvard study does not ask any specific questions. “ Our study seeks to extend what is reliably known about young people and their daily news exposure.” (Patterson, 2007, page 5) Writes Thomas Patterson. That being said, between the two studies the Comparison of Demographics for Media in 1995, 2006 offers more conclusive answers. The Harvard study leaves room for error, but what was appealing about it was were the questions that were asked. They were specifically asked to make sure the sampling error was minimal.

Evaluation
Both of the studies were equally persuasive. They both come to the conclusion that the older one gets the more interest they have in the news. The only difference between the age groups is where they get their news from. For instance, in 1995 more people ages 18-29 read the news paper than they did 11 years later in 2006 (Stemple, Hargrove, 2008.) Only the older adults ages 65 and up stayed consistent with their preferences for newsprint. On a shorter scale, older adults tuned in to the news more often than those younger than them (Patterson, 2007). Thomas Patterson, the writer of the Harvard study doesn’t agree with the the common belief that young people do not care about the news. In contrast with Comparison of Demographics for Media in 1995, 2006, he beliefs that young people are more involved in the media than prior before 9/11. An indication of that would be the 2004 election where the voter turnout amongst young adults was up (Thomas Patterson on Young People, 2007) If these studies could be done a different way, going to high school and interviewing high school seniors or college freshman and sophomores separately from the college upperclassmen would be suggested. It is not too far fetched that the younger ones wouldn’t be interested in the news, but it doesn’t apply to every single student at different stages in their education.

Engagement
Using social media to spread current news in college is one way to better distribute news to students. Most everyone is on Facebook or Twitter. Lets be honest, that’s where most of us find out what’s going on in the world whether it be sports scores, or what’s trending worldwide. colleges could provide free subscriptions to their papers with local delivery, but a lot of it lies with social media in some shape or form.

References

Patterson, T. (n.d.). Young People and News. http://shorensteincenter.org/. Retrieved June 12, 2014, from http://shorensteincenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/young_people_and_news_2007.pdf

Stemple, G., & Hargrove, T. (2008). Comparison of Demographics For Media in 1995, 20006. Newspaper Research Journal, 29(2), 83.

Thomas Patterson on Young People and News. (2007, July 12). Harvard Kennedy School . Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://www.hks.harvard.edu/news-events/publications/insight/democratic/thomas-patterson