State of Local

Northwestern University’s Medill School and Kellogg School Of Management recently conducted a study in which 14 to 18-year-old participants were asked to describe the time they spend on YouTube or social networking sites, and contrast that to time spent on news sites.

Many of the participants described time spent on YouTube or social networking and music downloading sites as a treat or time-out. But they considered their online news experiences as stressful or a reminder of the world’s dangers.

The study drew some conclusions that should be of extreme interest to any local news operation:

The research found:

• News isn’t that important to teens right now.
Particularly news of politics, government, public affairs and other subjects that journalists might call “serious news.” Other things are more compelling. In addition, following the news is stressful for teens: it reminds them of the peril in the world.

• Local news sites aren’t much on their radar screens.
Teens are not interested enough to go out of their way for news. So whatever news pops up in front of them when they turn on their computers – usually the large Internet portals and news aggregators – is what they see.

• Even so, teens are “interestable.”
Researchers repeatedly heard the phrase, “I will read it IF IT CATCHES MY EYE.” Hence, the name of this report. Teens will look at many different kinds of news online if it captures their attention – with subjects that interest them, video, pictures, the right topics, humorous and weird news and new things. Once interested, they often read on. And even though they don’t usually enjoy reading or watching the news, talking about it can be fun.

But for all the bad news, there was some optimistic findings. It is possible to engage teens, but it requires some special effort.

The report recommends that news organizations:

• Aggressively seek to “catch the eye” of teenagers.
They should listen to teens and actively develop new products, campaigns and initiatives aimed at attracting teens to the news, all based on the principle of “catching the eye.” Then they should work to deepen the attraction. This includes:

• Excelling at the subjects teens are most interested in.
• Providing the features and functionalities they like.
• Building on their interest in humor.

The study also noted that if teens are not coming to local news sites, it’s impossible to engage their interests directly. So news organizations should get their content on the sites where teens spend their time.

This includes:
• Developing and actively marketing free widgets and tailored news feeds for teens.

• Striking deals with local high schools, news aggregators and social networks to get news content where teens spend time.

• Enlist teachers and parents.
They should use the lessons learned in Newspapers in Education programs worldwide to effectively market to teens using proven, reliable networks, like teachers and parents.

The complete study runs more than 50 pages, and it includes a lot more details than the average journalist will need for their day-to-day newsgathering jobs. But the complete study is a must-read for local news executives, and a reminder that new audiences can be built, if you remain flexible and open to targeting your news presentations for different audiences.