So, how do you get your news? With traditional newspapers taking their stories online and into digital formats, and with the younger generation accessing their news in faster and more non-traditional ways, are we seeing the last days of traditional news reporting in newspapers and on the television?
Perhaps the days are nearly all but gone of the paper boy or girl delivering a newspaper to your door, and people no longer make a 6pm appointment with the TV (or whatever time the main evening news is broadcast) but there is still an appetite for news, even if it does not look like nor feel like what others may consider traditional news.
When interviewed on campus, many students said they avoided the news because they found it depressing, and that it only managed to highlight the bad things going on in the world.
Yamini Goldstein, 19, a Psychology major, doesn’t like to hear the news because “it is depressing,” although she admits she “cannot be uncultured,” yet would only seek out news on certain occasions when she feels “the world is falling apart.”
Alexandria Liga, 32, an undecided major, also says she does not like to watch the news as it makes her “feel sad and hate the world,” yet still likes “watching national news.”
An overwhelming number of students stressed they were very interested in news, with many echoing the sentiments of Alyssa Pierre, 18, a Nursing major, who feels news “is important to keep up to date on what’s going on in the world.”
Tristan Foerster, 21, a Communications Studies major, takes a very interesting and informed stance on the importance of getting both local and international news. “I think it’s better to be informed on all fronts but not to overwhelm yourself with too much news. This balance is extremely hard to find in today’s world, however,” he says.
With much of today’s news and pictures coming from Ukraine, many students found their interests peaked for various reasons, with many more feeling it catapulted them into an awareness of and interest in international news.
Samuel Fleischer, 17, a dual enrollment Fire Service major, has been following the Ukraine story because “it is interesting and can also be concerning for the US,” but he also first feared that he “was going to be drafted.”
Hitting home, Andrea Nistor, 21, a Chemistry major, is interested in the war in Ukraine because “I’m Romanian and it’s right next door.”
“I am a first-generation immigrant from Ecuador,” says Josie Rodriguez, 22, a Nursing major, “so I can relate to a lot of international news.”
With a news app on his phone, Robert Herbert, 21, a Chemistry major, is following the Ukraine story “because I find it important,” and he’s currently following more international news than his usual local and national news “because of what’s going on.”
And like Herbert, that’s where most students are getting their news: on their phones. Social media is where they access news: through news apps, and places like Google, Instagram, and Tumblr.
Some, however, speak of parents and grandparents who get newspapers delivered, and do read actual newspapers, both local and national.
“My grandparents read a daily newspaper,” says Melissa Portnoy, 20, an Early Childhood Education major, “but not sure which kind,” she adds.
While Riley Johnson, 20, a Biochemistry major, accesses her news online, she also reads the “NY Daily News, NY Post, and Courier Times” because her parents do, and the newspapers are at home.
Most, though not all students, avoided TV news as they like the instant news accessible on their phones. Others like Nistor, however, do not watch TV because “I consider it extremely biased.”
Michelle Kaplun, a 29-year-old Pharmacy major, only accesses local news through social media and gets other news, including international news, by word of mouth from other people because she finds “local news to be less biased.”
Although news access may look and feel different from how some of us get our news, how our parents and grandparents have accessed and continue to access news, there will always be a need for news.
People want information. Many are natural storytellers. Many more seek the truth. Journalism’s quest is to find the truth. Unbiased and real. Sometimes uncomfortable. But always to inform.
So, how do you get your Bucks news? While many students said they had heard of The Centurion, yes, the College’s award-winning newspaper, most did not read it. It’s been online since Covid, and its link is sent to every student and Professor’s email at Bucks.
Maybe time to start reading The Centurion, and even see your own name in there, and stories closer to home.
www.bucks-news.com