Gen Y doesn’t read newspapers - Worrying sign?
At the IDC ‘08 Panel Discussion in the afternoon, Unique Frequency’s Daryl Tay shared with the audience that his age group do not read the newspaper at all.
In fact, he “reads” the news from the snippets found on the blogs he reads.
Is this worry sign for the print industry?
Business often fragment the different age groups and are sure to provide different solutions for them.
The question here is the newspaper is a single product targeted at all age group.
If youngsters like Darryl don’t read start reading the newspaper, will he be reading the newspaper when he is older?
Is this a worrying sign, not just for the newspaper owners, but also for the agencies that depend on this medium as a mouth piece?
However, I do have a question for Darryl.
I won’t be asking you why you don’t read newspapers. Instead, I want to ask you is how can newspapers reach out to your generation?
What can the newspaper owners do to make the newspaper cool again?
Marketing-Interactive also picked up news that newspaper readership in Malaysia has dropped.
I totally agree that Gen Y and heck even the Gen X are not reading the papers. Some read online news like The Star (fr Malaysia). But because Singapore Straits Times charges people to read their online news, students and most young adults are not willing to pay at all.
So comes a fresh breed of blog sites and other free sites that attract them - it’s free, it’s what they want to read (relevant to them) and so they do so.
And this is alarming, as they now wont know what the gov wants them to know. Hence, the outreach is smaller.
One way, I say, let national papers be free for all. AsiaOne is good, but may not be enough. Straits Times can take the lead to offer at least some news free.
During my time, the school teacher made us do newspaper cuttings for vocab, summary work or just class discussion. Took me quite some time to learn that it is rather important to keep up with current affairs. Guess it’s up to parents and teachers to drive home this important point~
Heck, at such an age, just half an hour a day to read up on some issues in SG or the region, shouldn’t be that hard right?
[…] as always has started a very good conversation about how this may be worrying. I was told from Debbie that @ridz84 agreed on the live chat with me that most of us don’t […]
i try to read the news online everyday, and then i read blogs for more opinions on a certain issue that im interested in. i think its not so much abt newspapers not being attractive to gen y, but rather the indifference they have towards national / world issues.
whenever im too busy to read the straits times, or channel news asia, or bbc or cnn, then i will read TODAYonline. that works just as well, for news snippets, etc.
@Quahchee, this Internet posses a big problem for these print publishers. If you give free content online, who is going to buy the newspaper as the same content is being reported in Print?
My suggestion is to make use of the Internet, whether if it is web1.0 or web2.0 tools, to market the journalists and the newspapers to online community.
The newspapers have been marketing the news, why not market the journalist too? My definition of marketing is not sell the journalist to the highest reader, but to position the journalist as the thought leader in their respective field of reporting.
@Eugene, I remember those days. However, the problem lies with the fact that the newspaper is competing with this Internet medium. Its a different scenario between the newspapers vs radio vs TV. This new generation can get their daily news, like what Daphne pointed out, from the Internet medium.
So if the new generation can get the news online, how can newspaper compete with this Internet medium? Newspapers say they have the widest coverage with include news from AFP, Reuters, etc, but other web publications are also printing news from AFP, Reuters, etc.. so how do you make the newspaper medium interesting again?
@Daphne, Good point! This fall back to the school system that it is designed to get the grades and after you got the grades, you can return what you learn to your school.
@Eugene, I think you’ve got two issues mixed up. When I said people my generation don’t read the papers, I mean they do not physically read the newspapers. Meaning the actual, physical, hardcopy.
That’s different from your suggestion that it’s too much to spend half an hour a day reading about the region because the point is the actual content is not different. We could be reading the same thing, but the delivery method is much different.
[…] yesterday, I said Generation Y doesn’t read the newspaper. And MediaSlut picked up on it asking what newspapers can do in response. Coincidentally, Today ran an article today about the state of Singapore’s […]
Actually the Straits Times has been doing this section called “Stomped” which is targeting the younger readers to ST. Readers are able to contribute their news pieces and photos to the website and the popular one will be printed. Initially I was quite skeptical over it when it was first out , however I think it is quite a progress as there is a small element of interactivity which Gen Y seeks for.
Personally I still skim through the straits times when I am sitting on my porcelain throne or when commuting (unless MRT have wifi or radio signals, I will be sticking to hardcopy newspapers for a while). I do find it useful as I am able to source out new activities which may interest me in Life. Above that, I still find it easier to bring around copies of the Business Times or Today when I am out and I can dispose of it later. Not very environmentally-friendly, but it helps me to get in tuned with the world while waiting. This is my two cents worth.
I always have an issue with definitive statements like young people don’t read newspapers. If they are reading them online then what’s the problem? Where’s the harm? What’s the beef? Where’s my chip?
Being the younger generation, I seldom read newspapers unless I’m looking for a car dealer, house or job. Even so I’ve online alternative which give me instant gratification.
I do however prefer RSS feeds where I can comb through millions of articles and news for what I am interested in. Having said that, my scope of new reading is limited by (usually) my trade, hence, ignorant of other aspect.
To be truthful, SPH’s online business is too diversified to be of any use. This is also the first time I see a company with so much conflict (i.e. Ohmy has classified section and ST701 claim to be SPH’s classified website). It is fleeting, quantity does not make up for quality.
[…] They’re Socially Conscious: Gen Y cares about the world. They pay attention to politics, the economy, social causes, and environmental issues. They think they’re a force to be reckoned with in elections and follow the candidates online on social networks. They read the news, but not in newspaper format, which is is going to hurt that industry even more as time goes by. […]
[…] They’re Socially Conscious: Gen Y cares about the world. They pay attention to politics, the economy, social causes, and environmental issues. They think they’re a force to be reckoned with in elections and follow the candidates online on social networks. They read the news, but not in newspaper format, which is is going to hurt that industry even more as time goes by. […]
[…] They’re Socially Conscious: Gen Y cares about the world. They pay attention to politics, the economy, social causes, and environmental issues. They think they’re a force to be reckoned with in elections and follow the candidates online on social networks. They read the news, but not in newspaper format, which is is going to hurt that industry even more as time goes by. […]
I am 23 and enjoy the routine of sitting with a cup of coffee and the NYtimes plus my local paper, the dog at my feet, and reading for at least an hour, sharing sections with my parents/boyfriend, and discussing interesting articles. However, I only have time for that when I am on vacation. Otherwise I get my news from the internet, and I have to disagree with an earlier “kids-these-days” post - most internet news is national/international, while I’m pretty sure watching the local nightly news actually makes you dumber. Most young people I know like to read multiple news sources on the internet to get a variety of perspectives. The most read news or news-ish sites of people I know: drudgereport.com, nytimes.com, huffingtonpost.com, politico.com, news.bbc.co.uk, digg.com, lemonde/lefigaro/elpais (etc, foreign-language papers), Plus many of us cruise the ap wire for timely updates when we have a free/bored minute or two. Newspapers don’t update for me to re-check 10 times a day - internet news is not lightweight, its more about being a news junkie for many of us!
[…] They’re Socially Conscious: Gen Y cares about the world. They pay attention to politics, the economy, social causes, and environmental issues. They think they’re a force to be reckoned with in elections and follow the candidates online on social networks. They read the news, but not in newspaper format, which is is going to hurt that industry even more as time goes by. […]
[…] They’re Socially Conscious: Gen Y cares about the world. They pay attention to politics, the economy, social causes, and environmental issues. They think they’re a force to be reckoned with in elections and follow the candidates online on social networks. They read the news, but not in newspaper format, which is is going to hurt that industry even more as time goes by. […]
[…] Wrote Sarah, They’re Socially Conscious: Gen Y cares about the world. They pay attention to politics, the economy, social causes, and environmental issues. They think they’re a force to be reckoned with in elections and follow the candidates online on social networks. They read the news, but not in newspaper format, which is is going to hurt that industry even more as time goes by. […]
[…] They’re Socially Conscious: Gen Y cares about the world. They pay attention to politics, the economy, social causes, and environmental issues. They think they’re a force to be reckoned with in elections and follow the candidates online on social networks. They read the news, but not in newspaper format, which is is going to hurt that industry even more as time goes by. […]
[…] was reading an article on how Gen Y doesn’t read newspapers recently that got me thinking a bit. Although, declining readership is by no means new news, I […]
[…] They’re Socially Conscious: Gen Y cares about the world. They pay attention to politics, the economy, social causes, and environmental issues. They think they’re a force to be reckoned with in elections and follow the candidates online on social networks. They read the news, but not in newspaper format, which is is going to hurt that industry even more as time goes by. […]