THE PARADOX OF POPULARITY

Abstract

In a world of increasing information supply, the nature and experience of information is bound to change. This becomes evident first among members of the new generation. If previously individuals in this age group were expected to turn to a more mainstream pattern of news consumption once they grew older, this article provides more detailed insight into the conditions, circumstances and processes that suggest a radical break with this traditional pattern. Young people are not so much looking for “news” and information as ends in themselves, but rather as the basis for conversation topics, inspiration, a sense of belonging and meaning to their life. Although news is important in the life of young adults (15–25), they hardly watch it. If they do not want news to be made deliberately more entertaining because it would imply that news is no longer (important) news, many of them still claim to watch news-like programs because they find them entertaining. The double viewing paradox involved here is that their satisfaction about and even interest in “serious” news does not automatically cause them to watch it, while, vice versa, their contempt for light news programs (“stupid,” “junk”) does not prevent them from watching and enjoying them. This paper concentrates on the media experiences of 450 young people (between age 15 and 25, of different cultural and educational backgrounds) in the Netherlands. It argues that in order to serve this specific audience both today and in the future, quality standards should be raised instead of lowered, while conventional news values—independence, factuality and trustworthiness—continue to be valid more than ever.

Keywords:

• audience studies
• popular media
• young adults