Williamson, et al. (2011). Young Adults and Everyday Life Information: The Role of News Media. (Gareth)

From Digital Culture & Society

The past half-decade or so has seen a proliferation of research regarding the continuing development of various digital technologies and their respective roles within contemporary society. One such area of research focuses on the ways that modern digital technologies have integrated into the longstanding news media industry. The collision between constantly evolving modern digital technologies and the well-established news media industry has left many reluctant to accept change while others have totally embraced it. Now that these digital changes have had time to set in and make a real impact on the news media industry, new areas of research and concern have inevitably come forth. Young adults today have, for the most part, grown up immersed in modern digital technologies; the only news industry many young adults know is a digital one. Williamson et al. (2011) explore the ways in which young adults encounter and interact with various news media including access and motivations. The observations made by Williamson et al. (2011) work to explain many aspects of the news consumptions habits of young adults, particularly as they relate to modern digital technologies.

Their qualitative approach involved 34 Australian university students, aged 18-25 years. Participants were interviewed about how they sought out news information in their everyday lives and whether or not they incidentally encountered the information online or print newspapers. The primary research questions of the study focused on the relationship between “everyday-life information seeking”, the pursuit of relevant knowledge in day-to-day life, and news media consumption, particularly as it applies to modern digital technologies (Williamson et al., 2011). Social media plays a significant role in this relationship as most young adults today engage with social media on a daily basis, or in their “everyday life”, and subsequently encounter news information. This brings up one of the base areas of inquiry for Williamson et al. (2011), which is whether or not young adults today actively seek out news information or if they incidentally encounter it in their media consumption habits, rituals, and practices. Beyond this, regardless of how the news information was encountered, news media consumption of young adults was found to be somewhat aligned with one’s personal preferences, opinions, political ideals, beliefs, etc. (Williamson et al., 2011). Specific news sources and topics of interest were also shown to influence the ways young adults interpret the information being conveyed (Williamson et al., 2011). Echoing Uses and Gratifications theory, Williamson et al. (2011) found that young adults turned to specific news media for certain needs and purposes. For example, many of the respondents used digital news media when searching for specific news topics and print news for general news information relevant to them. From their findings, Williamson et al. (2011) are confidently able to argue that while digital media technologies have created a large space to operate within the news media industry, traditional print news media may still have more life than many have theorized. Furthermore, it is also argued that the familiarity between young adults and digital technologies allows for more confident and nuanced consumption habits, particularly as they pertain to news media. On top of all of this, Williamson et al. (2011) emphasize the role of social media in the news consumption practices of young adults because social media platforms provide familiarity and convenient access to news information for young adults already using the platforms for other purposes.

Although the authors originally hypothesized that digital media would be preferred for news consumption rather than traditional print media, they instead found that print media still played a prominent role in news consumption among young adults. Digital media was instead more closely associated with sociability and communication or specific news topic searching. It is, however, important to note that although this study is still relatively recent, much can change in a short period of time within the rapidly evolving and growing digital media environment. It is also important to note that this preference for print media may also be influenced by the extensive education of the participants, more familiar with accessing and consuming print media. This highlights the most glaring weakness in this study, the relatively small and limited sample of respondents. Similar future research would benefit greatly from a more inclusive sample of participants to include various occupations and education levels from various schools outside of Australia, increasing the sample size. Despite this, Williamson et al. (2011) are successful in establishing clear arguments about the news consumption habits of young adults, providing a starting point for further inquiry and research.