Young people make a distinction between ‘the news’ as the narrow, traditional agenda of politics and current affairs and ‘news’ as a much wider umbrella encompassing topics like sports, entertainment, celebrity gossip, culture, and science. ‘The news’ is associated with mainstream, traditional media brands, who are expected to act impartially and objectively, even if there are doubts that this is achievable. ‘News’ is topically broader and afforded more tonal latitude. Alternative media is felt to operate better here.

Rather than simply avoiding news, there is ‘news to be avoided’ – often to guard mental health. Because of this, some young people engage more with ‘news’ than ‘the news.’ Avoidance of ‘narrow’ news has implications for mainstream brands, who are felt to operate primarily at the ‘serious’ end of the spectrum.

The proliferation of choice driven by the social mobile web results in as many pictures of young people’s news consumption as there are young people, though this report discerns a typology of hobbyist/dutiful news consumers, main eventers, and the disengaged. Each group differs in terms of their motivations for consuming ‘narrow’ news, how they encounter it, their brand considerations, and their content preferences.

Having grown up in the digital age and been socialised by older generations to be critical of the information they consume. Somewhat paradoxically, mainstream news brands are judged by, but not inherently valued for, their impartiality.

Far from the consistent traits often ascribed to them, young people like a range of formats and media to suit different occasions and need states, and are drawn to information that is curated for them. There will continue to be a place for text, video, audio, and still imagery – sometimes all in one piece of content.