With #UseTheNews, for the first time a scientific study addresses the news use of adolescents and young adults in such detail and precision. Prof. Dr. Uwe Hasebrink, Dr. Sascha Hölig and Leonie Wunderlich conducted the study for the Leibniz Institute for Media Research as commissioned by the German Press Agency (dpa) and the Hamburger Behörde für Kultur und Medien [Hamburg Ministry for Culture and Media].
Complete Study (pdf) (in German)
Summary (pdf) (in German)
Key Findings
Journalistic Offerings are Only One of Many Sources of Information Used
With 46 per cent, just under half of the interviewed young people between the ages of 14 and 17 turn to journalistic offers several times a week, but 58 per cent also look at non-journalistic actors. All young people who subscribe to news offerings in social media also regularly use journalistic news outside of these platforms.
Often a Reference to Their Own Life is Missing in Journalistic News
About half of the young people do not consider it important to be informed about news and current events. With journalistic news, they often do not have a connection to their personal everyday life. The most important reason to keep up to date is to be able to participate in conversations and discussions among friends and family. Young people integrate themselves into their social environment in this way. It is also striking that young people who feel they can make a difference politically express significantly more interest in information about current events.
There Are Not THE Young People or THE Young Adults
Even within the same age and education group, very different types of news orientation can be seen with specific characteristics of interest, use, attributed relevance to opinion formation and of being informed:
- Journalistically information-oriented: high news interest, extensive use and great relevance of journalistic sources with low relevance of non-journalistic offerings; well informed;
- Little information-oriented: low news interest, no use and relevance of journalistic sources with likewise low use and relevance of non-journalistic offerings; not well informed;
- Extensively information-oriented: high news interest, extensive use and great relevance of journalistic and non-journalistic offerings; well informed;
- Non-journalistically information-oriented: medium news interest, no use and relevance of journalistic sources with high relevance of non-journalistic offerings; not well informed.
Hasebrink, Uwe; Hölig, Sascha; Wunderlich, Leonie (2021): #UseTheNews. Studie zur Nachrichtenkompetenz Jugendlicher und junger Erwachsener in der digitalen Medienwelt [Study on News Literacy of Adolescents and Young Adults in the Digital Media World]. Hamburg: Verlag Hans-Bredow-Institut, April 2021 (Arbeitspapiere des Hans-Bredow-Instituts | Projektergebnisse Nr. 55). DOI: https://doi.org/10.21241/ssoar.72822
