Nebenbei, mobil und ohne Ziel? Eine Mehrmethodenstudie zu Nachrichtennutzung und -verständnis von jungen Erwachsenen

Abstract

Prozesse der Nachrichten- und Informationsnutzung haben sich in den letzten Jahren gewandelt - insbesondere bei jungen Erwachsenen. So suggerieren die Dominanz des Smartphones sowie die Popularität sozialer Medien in dieser Altersgruppe, dass die Nutzung von Nachrichten zunehmend durch den situativen und sozialen Kontext geprägt sowie abhängig(er) von „zufälligen“ Kontakten mit einzelnen Beiträgen wird. Derzeit fehlt es jedoch an Erkenntnissen dazu, ob und inwiefern sich Zusammenhänge zwischen den Charakteristika der Nachrichtenerfahrung in gegenwärtigen Informationsumgebungen und dem Stellenwert von Nachrichten im Alltag von Nutzer*innen zeigen. Insbesondere ist unklar, ob und inwiefern (neue) Nutzungspraktiken auch das grundlegende Verständnis von Nachrichten herausfordern. Die Studie untersucht daher, wie junge Erwachsene heute „Nachrichten“ definieren und welche Nutzungspraktiken und -gewohnheiten ihren Umgang mit tagesaktuellen Informationen kennzeichnen. Methodisch wird auf eine Kombination aus einer via WhatsApp realisierten Tagebuchstudie sowie qualitativen Interviews mit insgesamt 47 Studierenden im Alter von 18 bis 24 Jahren gesetzt. Die Ergebnisse verweisen auf den geringen Stellenwert, den Nachrichten im Alltag selbst hochgebildeter junger Menschen einnehmen. Sie zeigen zudem die Schwierigkeit, „Nachrichten(-nutzung)“ zu definieren, sowie die Divergenzen zwischen normativ geprägten Ansprüchen an „gute“ Nachrichten und eigenen Nutzungserfahrungen.

Does Journalism Still Matter? The Role of Journalistic and non-Journalistic Sources in Young Peoples’ News Related Practices

“…Incidental exposure versus targeted search for information. Consistent with contemporary findings on young peoples' news habits, participants from the focus groups made up of young adults in particular reported their engagement with 'breaking news' as being incidental (Kümpel 2020) By contrast to their "news-finds-me perception" (Gil de Zúñiga et al 2017: 107), these young adults paid active attention to news and looked for information themselves in the case of current events such as the explosion in Beirut which happened only a few days before group discussions took place. For example, most respondents reported that they incidentally heard about the explosion on social media and used editorial sources for news 'when more information became available' .…”

“…For example, the most preferred news source for teenagers is television and they often use older members of their family and teachers as a conduit for current affairs information (Notley et al 2017). The use of social media platforms leads to rather passive and incidental news behaviour (Kümpel 2020) while providing both generations access to a variety of content from different actors: “information from news media, political actors, and friends and followers blend to create a unique political information diet” (Andersen et al 2020: 138). However, little is known about the relationship between incidental exposure and targeted searches for information in the context of social media platforms.…”

“…Studies among teenagers and young adults point to a change in the understanding of journalism as a professional news source. Qualitative work suggests that teenagers have broad definitions referring to important and relevant topics (Tamboer et al 2020) whereas young adults’ idea of news is characterised by traditional genre conventions (Kümpel 2020). Besides, discrepancies between news definitions and the use practices of young people persist (Craft et al 2016).…”

“…Recent studies exploring young adults’ information repertoires (Peters et al 2021: 1) point toward a tension between where news is accessed (platform) and how news is conceptualised (traditional journalism). Discrepancies exist between news definitions and the use practices of teenagers and young adults (Craft et al 2016: 14; Kümpel 2020: 25). Yet, previous work has paid only marginal attention to the role of different sources within young peoples’ information behaviour and opinion formation.…”

‘Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda’: Young Swiss audiences’ attitudes, expectations and evaluations of audiovisual news and information content and the implications for public service television

“…In many cases, they fill this need by turning to content focused on lifestyle, culture, sports and other topics more closely connected to their own personal interests but not strongly related to politics. These statements reveal how many Swiss youth acknowledge that, on the one hand, they should aspire to be informed citizens, and, on the other hand, their own preferences and usage patterns do not make them informed citizens in the traditional sense (see also Kümpel, 2020). They also reveal how routinised news consumption may be a significant factor in individuals' news consumption, and how these routines have eroded over time.…”