New News: Gen Z’s emerging current affairs culture

News consumption among a younger generation of Irish consumers, 18- to 26-year-olds, those born slap bang in the middle of the smartphone age and often labelled Gen Z, is diverse and vibrant.

As a demographic Gen Z comprises 21 per cent of the Irish population, according to Census 2022, and members of this demographic engage with news in a very different way to those from previous generations.

We like to think of them as so-called prosumers, by which we mean more future oriented in a consumer sense. Not merely digital natives, they have grown up with the social participatory internet and this very significantly conditions their feelings towards information.

We used an ethnographic and qualitative approach with a youth sample interested in news content, spanning heavy to light engagement, to focus more on depth than breadth. The study was conducted over a two- to three-week period encompassing a wide span of demographics and regions. We went deep on their social feeds and got them to share content and ideas via various exercises. We also met some of them in person for more in-depth exploration and validation.

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Don’t box us in

In doing so we struggled to identify one ‘Gen Z’ archetype to hang on to. Despite the pervasive stereotype of a distracted younger generation as being so-called liberal woke activists, the real picture is more fragmented.

Because social media is so segmented, this audience really does live in different informational worlds. So it can be difficult to form a unified front on the issues they care about versus the interest groups or grassroots movements they identify with – Black Lives Matter, for instance.

In terms of attitudes towards news, most were either what we called fact checkers, so more rigorous and passionate about source verification, or social scanners, those broadly happy to coast along on their feeds before occasionally going deeper.

But, beyond that simple dichotomy, opinions are more fragmented. By experimenting with news through multiple social feeds, their news consumption tends to be prismatic. It can be hard therefore for them to be on the same page in the same way as previous eras.

Overturning stereotypes

The study overturned several Gen Z stereotypes, however.

There is an interest in so-called serious news even if modes of access can be barred, via a paywall, for example. Lower barriers of entry should be considered.

Rather than attention deficit, Gen Z speaks of selective attention, which means wanting more meaningful, life-enhancing and higher-quality content.

Gen Z is not only interested in short-form snippets and captioned visual content. While Instagram is clearly the number one news channel in most of the media diaries they shared, we found many examples of Gen Z going deep on topics they would explore extensively and from multiple sources.

The algorithm

As part of the study, we asked participants to maintain media diaries for more than a week. These revealed to us that they engage with social media anywhere between three to seven hours a day. On social, news is ubiquitous and comes at them via the algorithm as much as it does by deliberate intent.

Most are very conscious of something they call the social media bubble. So, it is encouraging to find a significant number practising fact checking, cross-referencing and lateral reading on stories they come across. Not everything is taken at face value, and it takes cross-platform dexterity to do this.

Serious news versus so-called Kim Kardashian news

In the findings a clear distinction is made between serious news and what one participant calls “Kim Kardashian news” or light news. The former is typically associated with what are seen as traditional news brands such as The Irish Times, RTÉ and the BBC. Even TheJournal.ie is seen as a traditional news brand because the format and approach come from the same cultural stable.

These brands are overly associated with traditional formats and channels but there is growing awareness that such channels are evolving. Sky News for example has a strong offering on Tik Tok. When we shared the RTÉ Instagram feed this was well regarded. Yet, these forays into Gen Z social are not widely known.

Misinformation is something that our prosumers are all too familiar with and they are conscious of calculated distortions via tabloid sources in particular. There is a lot of pushback against what the interviewees describe as “exaggerated news” providers and people out to “create negative movements in society”.

Traditional news brands are generally held in high regard as trusted sources. But they are seen to suffer from three key issues.

Establishment perspective

They are seen to focus on a more establishment perspective and are less open to grassroots and alternative voices. “They are the state media” is one choice quote, while social media is seen to be “open and liberating”. This means there are more diverse voices on there even if one’s social feed is something “to be managed and aware of”.

Negativity and mood

Traditional news brands are characterised as tending towards more negative and less positive content. This links back to the surge in mental health issues and, post-Covid, a sense that the world is more uncertain or beset with intractable problems.

There is also an expectation that the primary experience is long form and repetitive, even though in several cases traditional news brands maintained engaging Instagram or Tik Tok channels.

Narrow Focus

Brands such as The Irish Times are seen to adhere to editorial standards and are “mainly impartial”. But its interest focus is narrow; “too much Irish politics” was another comment. Overall, the results show that members of this cohort believe there is a proliferation of news sources to cater to divergent areas of care or passion.

The rise of alternative sources of serious news

This proliferation of alternatives in the serious news space is significant for Irish news brands particularly among a group where Instagram is, by far, its preferred news channel of choice.

We found participants engaging with the English language version of AI Jazeera, for example, for an alternative perspective on issues such as the refugee crisis. Independent so-called social native curator newsfeeds such as the @NewsByHil or the @NowThisNews channels on Instagram were also mentioned.

There is also a particular passion for participant storytelling and citizen journalism such as has been seen in Ukraine. Concerns about misinformation are understood, yet the sense of realness and authenticity is really powerful, particularly from Gen Z reporters on the ground.

Where next for the traditional news brands?

The report suggests that at minimum a youth discount or even a waiver on paywalls for Gen Z might increase engagement, that a social native presence on Instagram is a priority and that engagement with communities of interest and passion for youth is key.

Viv Chambers is managing director of Bricolage, a research agency providing cultural insights to multiple marquee brands. The Bricolage report will be published in July on LinkedIn, Instagram and bricolage.ie

To hear all Viv Chambers had to say on the subject join host and Dentsu’s chief strategy officer, Dave Winterlich, on this episode of the podcast Inside Marketing