The old saying, “no news is good news” refers to the idea that some people believe if they have not heard about a situation, then nothing bad has happened. In reality, news keeps us informed as citizens, no matter if it’s good or bad.
The Pew Research Center released a ten-year study in late September that pointed to specific transformations in news consumption. Alarmingly, Pew reported that a sizeable minority of young people less than 25 years old said they got no news at all yesterday! Despite the variety of news sources available, whether traditional news sources or digital news platforms, a full 29% are newsless, said Pew. That’s right, almost a third of those less than 25 may not know what is happening in the world around them. Further, those younger than 30 that did get news yesterday, most spent considerably less time (an average of 45 minutes) consuming it than older age groups, said Pew.
Based on these and other findings, the conclusion may be “no news is bad news” if you consider that the public derives the majority of their knowledge of politics and current events from print, television, radio or digital news sources and a growing number are not getting any news at all.
Why do you think there is a growing number of young people who do not get the news? Should our education system require classes to dissect and analyse current events? What is the value of news to you?
Strategically Communicating 
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