No News-Consuming Child Left Behind
It's a funny thing about surveys. Sometimes, they're useless. Other times, they're useless to the point of being hysterical.
Romenesko recently linked to an article by Michael Roberts in the Denver Westword that discussed a survey by the publication of "more than 60" (not exactly a scientific sample) local seventh and eighth graders. Apparently the big headline from this story was that when their teacher presented them with a list of ten major constitutional protections and asked which they would choose if they could only keep five (I'm not sure when this hypothetical could actually happen, but I'm starting to remember why I did not enjoy eighth grade), none chose freedom of the press. Dan Gillmor questioned the significance of this piece of information, but I was more confused by the rest of the article.
There are some notable quotes from the teens:
"There's a lot of bias in newspapers," declares Ashley, a student at St. Pius X School in Aurora. "They only get part of the story."Take Dexter, who says, "I don't think the newspapers tell the truth. They over-exaggerate a lot." He guesses that only about 40 percent of what newspapers publish is true -- and his estimate is far from the lowest one students offer.
What's interesting about the students' responses is that later in the article, it is revealed that most of them actually read a newspaper "almost never":
Just over 11 percent of the students say they'd read a newspaper every day or most days if [their teacher] didn't make them, whereas 66 percent admit that they'd do so on few days or almost never. Dario falls into the second category. When asked what section of the newspaper he enjoys, he says, "I mostly like the ads."
I certainly can't castigate a 13-year-old for not reading the newspaper regularly, or at all. In eighth grade, I was hardly surfing the Times Op-Ed page on a Sunday when the Short Hills Mall was only 30 minutes away. Perhaps much of what these students are expressing might be a more accurate reflection of how their parents feel about newspapers -- or better yet, what advertisements may have suggested to them:
Most of [the students] don't schedule time to watch the news, but because so many parents do, they wind up catching it anyway. "We always watch news on TV: Fox News," says Michelle -- and she proves it by noting, "They're fair and balanced."
That's a catchy little phrase.
While he acknowledges that some of their responses "can't be quantified scientifically," Roberts goes on to suggest that the eighth graders' reading and viewing habits may be the death knell for the news business as it currently exists:
… the views of this racially and economically diverse group hardly constitute happy news for an institution beset by sinking newspaper readership, falling national-news ratings and fears that traditional information purveyors are on a path to extinction. To reverse these trends, or at least to ease the pain of the inevitable transition to other forms of technology and distribution, media mavens must find a way to reach young people like Miles, who doesn't see why he should bother watching television news. After all, he says, "My mom just tells me about the weather, and then I'm good."I'm not sure that the news consumption habits of eighth graders are at all indicative of what they will be in five years, when they are voters, pay taxes and hold jobs. I enjoyed a good teeny-bopper magazine as much as the next gal back in middle school – does that mean they are part of my daily reading these days? (Well, maybe when Leonardo is on the cover.) To suggest that the news industry "find a way to reach young people like Miles" is somewhat misguided. Miles is in eighth grade. Can you blame him for being more interested in whether he should wear his North Face raincoat to class that day than who's running for president in an election he isn't old enough to cast a vote in? I think if the news business started targeting the 8th grade demographic, we might really be in trouble.
There are some more sweeping generalizations that come out of the less-than-revealing results of the survey:
An even greater number -- 68 percent -- say they care more about local news than national news. The message is clear: Organizations that provide hometown news people can really use are more likely to be embraced than those located in far-off ivory towers.
Or maybe they're watching local news to get the local weather (at least Miles is), which the national news obviously can't always provide. Maybe they'd rather read the local paper because there's an article about the soccer team that they play on. And if we're talking about eighth grade boys here, let's be honest, they're probably watching the local news because the anchor is hotter than Bob Schieffer.
On its face, it is certainly interesting – and kind of amusing -- to hear the opinions of a small group of students about their impressions of the media. And before everyone freaks out, I think the teacher's exercise probably was quite thought-provoking for the students and I'm glad she makes them read newspapers. Most of my teachers certainly didn't. I also have nothing against eighth graders (I used to be one not too long ago, as some of our commenters have indicated), but perhaps some of the reason that many academics haven't studied their news consumption habits, as Roberts notes, is because kids in general aren't that interested in the news because they're kids. If they're not watching the evening newscasts, it's probably because reruns of "Saved By The Bell" are on at the same time (pretty likely that's what I was doing), not because they don't feel like Brian Williams is striking an appropriate balance on the nomination of Judge Alito.