What is news? Exploring differences in how younger and older cohorts use news in today’s media environment

Figures & data

Table 1. Units of consumption, by news sources category and age.

News source category	Under 26 – total number of units	Under 26 – percentage	26 and over – total number of units	26 and over – percentage	Total units	Percentage of total units
New media	35	21%	24	5%	59	9%
Social media	59	35%	58	12%	117	18%
Traditional International	11	6%	45	10%	56	9%
Traditional New Zealand	65	38%	351	73%	416	64%
Total	170	100%	478	100%	648	100%

Table 2. Top 10 most-visited news sources, by units of consumption, from participants’ diaries.

News source	Type of outlet	Number of uses – Participants aged 26 and under	Number of uses – Participants aged over 26	Total numbers of uses	Percentage of total uses in top 10
Stuff.co.nz	Traditional New Zealand media	13	66	79	17%
TVNZ news	Traditional New Zealand media	15	59	74	16%
Facebook	Social media	31	41	72	16%
NZ Herald website	Traditional New Zealand media	10	50	60	13%
NewsHub news	Traditional New Zealand media	13	31	44	10%
Radio NZ	Traditional New Zealand media	8	35	43	9%
Newstalk ZB	Traditional New Zealand media	0	31	31	7%
YouTube	New media	16	7	23	5%
Google news	New media	2	17	19	4%
Instagram	Social media	5	9	14	3%
Total		113	346	459	100%

Table 3. Themes identified in focus groups that impacted on news selection.

Theme	Need (based on Katz, Haas, and Gurevitch (1973)	Perceived gratification	Number of participants who discussed this factor
Veracity of news choice – whether it could be relied on for truthful information	Cognitive needs	Knowing truthful information	23
News referrals – consuming news because others have sent it to them, or because algorithms deliver what they are interested in	Integrative needs	Knowing the content will be of interest	5
Balanced view – seeking news from many sources to make sure they are fully informed	Cognitive needs	Being fully informed	4
Mood of the participant – this indicated if they person wanted lighter or more entertaining news	Tension-release needs	Relaxation, entertainment, or being informed	2
Timeliness – the source was best for that time of day	Cognitive, affective or tension-release needs	Being up-to-date with the latest information	2
Format – participants have a preference for how news is presented e.g. visual appeal	Affective needs	Knowing the format will enable the audience to be informed	2

Table 4. Categories of news characteristics as identified in the focus groups.

Category identified from focus groups (what is news)	Shoemaker and Cohen (2005) - main categories of newsworthiness	Relates to news values identified by Brighton and Foy (2007)	Relates to news values identified by Harcup and O’Neill (2017)	Percentage of comments from the focus groups			Quotations from the focus groups
				26 and under	26 and over	Total
News is used to maintain and build social connections	Social significance	Relevance	Magnitude, shareability	25%	15%	18% n = 36	News makes you feel connected and you can talk to people about what is going on. (Male, 26)
News is factual and can be relied on for credibility.	Social significance	New category		19%	13%	15% n = 30	If the item or the information hasn’t been verified or checked, then to me it’s not news. (Male, 38)
News connects with audiences’ needs and interests.	Social significance	Relevance	Relevance	12%	12%	12% n = 25	News is a piece of information that interests me. I won’t read it if it doesn’t interest me. (Male, 22)
News is about celebrities/elite people	Social significance, deviance	Worth, unusualness, external influencers	Entertainment, drama	7%	11%	10% n = 20	We were talking about the Royals and I consider parts of it news, like how it’s going to affect the world having Charles as King and all the things that go along with it. (Female, 47)
News elicits and an emotional response	Social significance, deviance	Relevance, unusualness	Surprise, entertainment, drama, unusualness	5%	10%	8% n = 17	You can’t be heartless and turn away from what is happening in the world today. (Female, 37)
News tells people about local events and activities.	Social significance, deviance	Topicality, expectation	Topicality	4%	9%	7% n = 15	I need news to tell me what is going on locally. (Female, 40)
News is live, as the event is happening	Social significance	New category		4%	7%	6% n = 12	News can be live and you can actually see first-hand, what’s happening. (Male, 37)
News is entertaining	Social significance, deviance	Unusualness, worth, external influencers	Entertainment, drama	4%	7%	6% n = 12	News can be entertaining. But I think, in the old olden days, pre-internet, news was far, far more clearly defined. (Male, 45)
News is topical, current, new or timely.	Social significance	Topicality	Relevance	11%	4%	6% n = 12	It was great to watch the full day coverage from One News as soon as the Queen passed away, but it was nice to watch BBC live because it’s direct from the source. (Female, 37)
News has meaning because it impacts a lot of people	Social significance, deviance	Relevance, expectation, unusualness	Magnitude	5%	5%	5% n = 11	News is something that is applicable to a wide group of people and projects information in an accurate way. (Male, 21)
News has many viewpoints	Social significance	Composition	Relevance	0%	3%	2% n = 5	If you seeing a video of something that happened, everyone’s got their phones these days, and everything’s captured, so you can see different views on things. (Female, 40)
News is negative information	Social significance, deviance	Unusualness	Bad news, conflict	4%	1%	2% n = 4	I had a discussion with my team members about how a lot of the news is quite negative. (Female, 25)
News is a commercial product.	Social significance, deviance	External influences	News organisation’s agenda	2%	2%	2% n = 4	You’ve got clickbait titles and images that really make people question them and they can be used as a tool to share stories, or even get more clicks, just to generate more money. (Male, 21)
Total				100%	100%	100%

Katz, E., Haas, H., & Gurevitch, M. (1973). On the use of the mass media for important things. American Sociological Review, 38(2), 164–181. doi:10.2307/2094393

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