“Some old man who talks on TV” : A survey about young people’s attitude about news

This study examines the attitude towards news from young, Swedish students in the age between 13 - 15 years old. To regularly take part in news reports and be interested in what is happening in the world is important to be a part of a democratic society. The aim of the study, was with the help of the users and gratification theory and the news values theory, investigate the news habits and attitude towards news among the students with the age of 13 - 15 years. This study has been performed through a quantitative survey, where 330 students participated and answered 16 questions. The result of the study shows that young students know the importance of following the news, but they don’t prioritize it in their daily use of media. Even if they spent more than three hours per day on their phone - the most frequent answer was that they read or watched news content less than ten minutes per day. With the knowledge of the users and gratification theory, the basic needs become more satisfied with the use of social media and entertainment content instead of news. Young students consume news from social media, Youtube and TikTok - but they do not trust them as much as they trust traditional media. The most common news source is through family and friends, which shows that young people rarely search for news themselves. Instead they let the news find them, which could be problematic in the future.