Natalia, on the subject of Generation Next and the traditional media, your last post has me flat-out confused. Have you changed your position?

"There's been growing concern in the media industry that the youth of America have no desire to know what's going on in the world. Who can blame us?" you ask in your opening salvo (emphasis mine).

You then plainly concede that there has been a "divergence," as you call it, between our generation and the network media. Among other things, you point to sensationalism, negativity and journalists' constant, unfair criticism of our generation as reasons for this "divergence."

Then, in your second piece, you claim that "the network's claims about the lack of viewership amongst members of our generation [are] unfounded," pointing to a Harvard study that shows high viewership of the network news among college students, you argue that yes, young people actually do watch traditional news, and in droves.

According to the same study, 79 percent of college students report using traditional network news "with as much or even more regularity" than alternative sources. This claim, however, is flatly contradicted by a Pew Research Center Youth Study from 2004. According to Pew's data, 75 percent of the 18-25 age group pick the Internet over TV as their primary news source. Whereas 64 percent of the 65-plus age group report viewing network news regularly (according to the Harvard study, that would mean fewer old people watch network news than college kids -- an unimaginable scenario), only 22 percent of the 30-and-below age group reported the same.

The general thrust of the Youth Study -- as well as the thrust of both your earlier contention and mine, that Generation Next relies on sources other than the traditional media for news -- is buttressed by countless articles and studies: a 2000 Pew Research study, a 2006 Pew Research study, a Carnegie Corporation study , an AP news report, a Fox News report, and even the Nielsen Media Research company's new focus on new media technologies , which you referenced.

The verdict's in. Generation Next has "abandoned traditional mediums" -- you said it yourself.

Secondly, although within Generation Next there is a vocal, political, news-watching, community-conscious minority-which you and I both hope is metastasizing by the minute, we must not let that propitious trend color our current assessment of our generation as a whole. The truth is, we have a long way to go before our generation truly stands out among the others.

According to Pew Research analysis, young people have confirmed suspicions of their "disengagement from political life." For the past two decades, the study states, "The percentage of the youngest age cohort registering a complete lack of attention to politics rose from 12 percent (in 1987-1988) to 24 percent in 2002-2003." In addition, investigative reporter Jane Roh of Fox News writes, "Studies suggest fewer and fewer young Americans are reading newspapers, watching TV newscasts or checking headlines on the Internet, although online reading is the most common form for teens to skim the news."

Yet, partly because our generation's vocal minority wants "the truth from all perspectives," as you argued in your first post, today's alternative media thrives. Whether they're South Park Conservatives or Reagan's Children, young conservatives in particular fuel sizable segments of the blogosphere and provide vital support to alternative news organizations like Fox News.

Brian Anderson writes, "As one CNN producer admits, Fox is 'more in touch with the younger age group, not just the 25-54 demo, but probably the 18 year olds.'"

Towering Web sites of political commentary and inside-the-beltway clout such as National Review Online and FrontPage Magazine also boast, according to Anderson, a readership comprising many young people.

With the rise of blogs and online journals of all political stripes, talk radio, and right-to-center, counter-balancing journalism via Fox News, Generation Next may now participate in a media industry in which each journalistic establishment -- be it The New York Times or the blogger in his underwear down the street -- is held fiercely accountable by his competitors. Because of this, Generation Next, as no other generation has before, enjoys true media diversity and "the truth from all perspectives."

That is a milestone worth celebrating.

-- Ryan