Social media has become the most favored way for youth to get news in Russia. Russian YouTube generation is trusting social media more than the regular news channels.
Why Does Russian YouTube Generation Not Believe in News?
There are several reasons which have led to Russian YouTube Generation using online video streaming site for getting news.
- They do not believe in Russia’s TV news. They think it is doctored to suit the desires of the ruling elite.
- Secondly, they believe that the alternative news media covers different opinions not covered by the mainstream media.
- Third, they can listen to a different set of views in a country like Russia where state media forces the opinion onto the audiences.
There is a difference of opinion between the Russian YouTube generation and the older generation. The younger generation thinks that Putin-led government suppresses the Putin government suppresses the alternative views. On the other hand, the older generation which has seen Russia’s economic downturn during the 1990s considers him a savior. The older generation in Russia thinks of the President Vladimir Putin as someone who offers greater stability to the country.
Is Russia Alone in its Quest for Searching News Online?
The recently published research by The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, suggests that it is not only Russia where younger people are relying on alternative mediums for news.
Let us have a look at the figures of this research.
Young people across the globe are increasingly relying on the Internet to search for news.
- The research done in 26 countries indicates that more than 60% of the internet users in these nations use Facebook to get news instead of seeing it on TV.
- The second most consulted resource after Facebook for news is YouTube.
- WhatsApp is the third most consulted social media platform for finding news.
- The research also points to the fact that young people and women are more likely to use the internet for finding news items.
- It also reflects a drastic fall in the sale of However, people are reluctant to pay for viewing news online.
Young People Don’t Like News Being Censored Even on Social Media
Even social media websites are not beyond reproach. Recently, Facebook came under fire for not showing more conservative political views in its trends.
Facebook said that it did launch an internal investigation to see if the allegations were true and made a lot of changes to show the actual topics trending online regardless of the political viewpoints they represented.
How Younger Generation Preferred To Get News?
There was an interesting outcome of how people wanted to get the news served to them.
- Around 36% of the people surveyed said that they preferred news based on what they had read before.
- An estimated 22% of the people stated that they were happy to get news items recommended based on what their friends liked.
- However, 30% of the people surveyed still wanted news items vetted by human editors and journalists.
- Some people also shared the fear that news generated by the algorithms was supporting like-minded people’s point of view.
Use of Smartphones for Accessing News
One of the most significant changes noted by the research was the fact that people were increasingly using smartphones to access news.
The top three countries where people used smartphones to access news included Sweden (69%), Korea (66%), and Switzerland (61%).
News Consumed As A Commodity Regardless of the Source
Another important yet worrying news for the reputable news outlets was that more than 50% of the times people were not concerned about the brand (e.g. BBC, CNN, or ABC) reporting the event. They were more concerned about consuming news as a commodity regardless of who was reporting it.
