American newspaper executives and conservative critics complain that young adults who don't read newspapers and lack a knowledge of basic facts may be unprepared to become informed citizens. Studies also correlate newspaper reading with political interest. Young readers, who begin with comics and turn to newspapers for entertainment, do not find political news meaningful. This study explored what the newspaper means to young adults. Some 164 college students wrote autobiographies of their newspaper experiences. Using qualitative and demographic methods, this analysis constructs a composite narrative of how young adults are introduced to newspapers as children, interact with them in the school years, and eventually become regular users. Although they acknowledge the received definition of newspapers as factual sources for citizens, young adults experience the newspaper as a ritual, a symbol, and a tool. They consider the facts in newspapers boring because they deal with contexts unrelated to their lives.
Newspapers and citizenship: Young adults’ subjective experience of newspapers
Reprints and Corporate Permissions
Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?
To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:
Academic Permissions
Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?
Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:
If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.
Related Research Data
Related research
People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.
Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.
Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.