Sparking young people’s interest in the news is a daunting challenge. In an effort to learn more about how young adults
interact with the news, Associated Press commissioned a team of anthropologists
to study the digital news habits of 18 young people (aged 18-34) in
the United States, Britain and India. According to a preview of their report posted
on the Editors Weblog, their subjects considered news
to be an important source of “social currency” – and wanted to know more about events – but they encountered news reports haphazardly,
mostly through e-mail sources and social networks. The full study is scheduled
to be released in early June at the World Editors Forum in Sweden.