SEARCHING FOR YOUTH

March 2002
		How are media organizations changing the formats of their news to appeal to a younger audience? CNN Headline News anchor Robin Meade and Carl Gottlieb of the Project for Excellence in Journalism respond to your questions.

Forum introduction Will the increasing speed of news delivery diminish communication? How are young people responding to news? How can news organizations keep from watering down their content? Will the push for a younger audience spark more media convergence? What can news organizations do to better appeal to young people?     Online Special: Media Watch March 1, 2002: News organizations' attempts to woo younger viewers. May 10, 1999: Worries about violence in the media and their effects on youth.

Hunter Harris of Wayland, Mass. asks: Older people for good or bad have an experience database that can temper the credibility of the rapid fire delivery of modern media. Younger folks have less background for independent judgment. This is aggravated by every persons' limited ability to keep multiple themes each within its own category. I fear that if the pace of news delivery keeps speeding up and the amount of information presented increases, newscasts’ ability to communicate will diminish. What do you think?   Carl Gottlieb responds: Great observation. I think the best news organizations have a balance of young and old journalists. The young bring a fresh view and sensibility to newsrooms while the more experienced staffers can cite what went before and can serve as mentors. I believe problems can arise when a newsroom is out of balance. Too many veterans, and there is often resistance to examine new and relevant issues that must be addressed. Too many rookies and the important database of experience and what went before is lost.   Robin Meade responds: It's been my experience that most people have responded positively to Headline News’ fast-paced format as well as to the increased information on the screen. Our ratings are up over last year before the new format was on the air. Some folks have told me they are multi-taskers and that, for example, they like to listen to one thing while reading another. Multi-tasking may not be for everyone, certainly, and with Headline News, viewers can choose to watch and listen to the person on the screen and not read the words, if that suits you better. But for the most part people tell me the screen has them watching, never a boring minute...so to speak. I am confident we communicate well with our viewers. I think that if we weren’t doing that, we’d see a loss of viewers rather than an increase. And I also believe that our viewers trust us to provide them with credible, accurate news coverage, no matter what the pace.

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