Comments on: Online News And Teens http://mediasnackers.com/2009/04/online-news-and-teens/ We inspire people to learn, work & live differently with social media. Sun, 18 Dec 2011 08:23:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Mark Mapstone http://mediasnackers.com/2009/04/online-news-and-teens/#comment-2820 Mark Mapstone Thu, 30 Apr 2009 08:55:34 +0000 http://mediasnackers.com/?p=4839#comment-2820 What strikes me about the report is how suddenly obvious it is to present better news sites, rather than news 'for kids'. Regarding what's currently being offered, you only have to look at the quote '(news) simply doesn’t fit their needs' - nothing to do with the content. It's a matter of time availability and lifestyle. I've personally cringed at some TV programmes attempts to dumb down the news for young people. I'm sure it may hit a certain demographic, but at the risk of alienating and patronising many others. So I welcome this report and hope more people read it and understand the young peoples responses - they want news yes, but in a manageable format and presentation style. You don't have to be young to want that - its the reason I stopped buying broadsheet newspapers, and its one of the reasons why broadsheets adopted the tabloid style of publication. Perhaps the news should take a leaf out of the 140 character Twitter model - less is more - more thought into the wording, and a more accessible size reaching many, many more people. What strikes me about the report is how suddenly obvious it is to present better news sites, rather than news ‘for kids’. Regarding what’s currently being offered, you only have to look at the quote ‘(news) simply doesn’t fit their needs’ – nothing to do with the content. It’s a matter of time availability and lifestyle.

I’ve personally cringed at some TV programmes attempts to dumb down the news for young people. I’m sure it may hit a certain demographic, but at the risk of alienating and patronising many others.

So I welcome this report and hope more people read it and understand the young peoples responses – they want news yes, but in a manageable format and presentation style.

You don’t have to be young to want that – its the reason I stopped buying broadsheet newspapers, and its one of the reasons why broadsheets adopted the tabloid style of publication.

Perhaps the news should take a leaf out of the 140 character Twitter model – less is more – more thought into the wording, and a more accessible size reaching many, many more people.

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