It’s the bane of a young
person’s existence; the persistent assumption that young adults today don’t
care about what is going on in the world. Though keeping up with news may look
different than it did 20 years ago, many young people care about the news and
learn about it in many different ways.
Oct. 6 was the 2nd
Annual News Engagement Day, an event sponsored by the Association for Education
in Journalism and Mass Communication that aims to engage people in news and
emphasize why news matters. The Mayborn School of Journalism participated in
the event and encouraged students to get involved.
The hashtag
#newsengagementday was created to encourage schools, media, and organizations
to take part in the event on social media and to highlight the importance of staying
informed.
“I think keeping up with
the news is important because I see it as a way of opening your mind,” sophomore
fashion merchandising major Stephanie Casas-Salas said. “It helps you to be
more open-minded about different issues.”
With the advent of online
news, people today get their news from a variety of sources. While many people
still rely on print and TV, growing numbers of people turn to sources such as
social media and mobile applications to stay informed.
“That’s the first thing I
do in the morning, is go through my apps and read different news stories,” senior
English literature major Diana McBarnes said. “I don’t have games on my phone,
so whenever I’m sitting in between classes or waiting somewhere, I’m always
reading the news.”
Not everyone gets their
news online, however. Several students said that they watch the news on TV
because it makes them feel more involved with the news they are consuming.
“Obviously online news is
the most accessible, but I’m more comfortable with the TV news format,” junior
marketing major Sarah said. “With online news, I feel like I tend to miss
things only because you get little blurbs.”
Students also believe
news is important because of the ways in which it could potentially affect
them. National news is important but there are many events that happen on a
local level that are just as important.
“I personally think news
is important, and not just news from where I live,” sophomore economics major
Zach Welke said. “It’s important for young people to know what’s going on,
especially if it’s something that could affect you.”
Many people agree that
keeping up with current news is an integral part of being an informed member of
society, but that doesn’t mean that you have to let the news form opinions for
you.
“For me, it’s important,
but it’s not like over-consuming,” senior English secondary education major
Amber Fonseca said. “I want to know what’s going on and be informed, but I also
want to be able to formulate my own opinion.”
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