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Getty Images Bank
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In a word, ‘Anmulan Palace’. This is why the MZ generation does not watch legacy media (traditional media) news. It is said that he does not want to repeatedly report content that is ‘neither asked nor curious’ in serious language. In addition, it is said that legacy media actively avoid news altogether because it is difficult to understand news that has nothing to do with them and explains them in unkind words. These are some of the contents that the Reuters Journalism Institute affiliated with Oxford University recently released on their website ahead of the official publication in October. What draws attention in this year’s report is the so-called ‘news avoidance’ phenomenon. News avoidance, which is considered a much more active expression of opinion than ‘not watching the news’, was found to be a common tendency among all age groups in 46 countries surveyed. However, this phenomenon was higher in the 2030 generation than in other age groups. One thing to note is that news avoidance doesn’t happen for all news. It’s not about avoiding the news itself, it’s about rejecting news on specific topics that you’re not interested in. The same was true of the Mjet generation, but selective evasion was prominent in politics and news related to Corona. However, these two themes have been the most important agendas in the media so far. The report also noted that news avoidance occurs in issues such as political crises, international conflicts, pandemics, and climate disasters, which have traditionally been considered important agendas by journalists. This is a point that inevitably deepens concerns within the legacy media regarding news value standards. In a similar vein, generational differences were also found in the results of analyzing the news topics of interest by age group, with regional issues showing the largest difference. Then came the political news (again, I was frustrated with my affection and interest in the local press). In summary, the news avoidance phenomenon that the Reuters Journalism Institute noticed last year is a newly confirmed global trend as news about politics or pandemics continues over and over again, and it was particularly prominent in the 2030 generation. Another thing that draws attention in relation to the M-Jet generation’s use of news is that video platforms such as TikTok and Instagram are starting to be recognized as news consumption platforms. Now, Facebook and YouTube, as well as TikTok and Instagram, are becoming competitors of legacy media that cannot be ignored in the news ecosystem. There are many reasons why young news users are leaving legacy media and moving to digital platforms. Among them, it is necessary to pay attention to the factor that the news of legacy media is too difficult to understand. Conversely, the use of social media should not be overlooked because it is considered more personal information because it is comfortable and not burdensome to provide news. The 2030 generation, who have mostly been exposed to short sentences and images on social media, find it difficult to write long-winded texts, and political news requires accumulating information for a long time to follow. They do not watch the news because they are presented. It’s not just that the topic of the news is politics. I avoid the news because the way I describe it is outdated and it doesn’t seem directly related to my life. Therefore, in order to catch users who are leaving digital, it will be necessary to expand the news topic to various interests other than politics. But more importantly, isn’t it possible to radically change the way news is delivered, that is, the boundaries and forms of the genre of news?
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Han Seonㅣ Professor, Department of Journalism and Broadcasting, Honam University–
