World

U.S. teenagers: news sucks

by Actual News Geezer | July 11, 2007 at 08:32 am

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salinger title girl is number 1. Did you know that? This is the top of "search trends" that Google Labs will let us see. Anybody know about this story?

According to Google Labs, its Hot Trends list shows the big "movers" - a kind of stock market of what's on people's minds.

So here's the question: is "news" on young people's minds?

Sorta, according to Google Hot Trends. For example, no. 32 - craig stebic. This is the story of Amy Robertson, the NBC news reporter who was fired yesterday for cavorting in her bikini at the home of a news source.

Amy herself is no. 4. So what about the war in Iraq? Missing in action. George Bush? a no-show. How about that video posted to YouTube, the child on ecstasy? O there it is! at no. 98!!!

It confirms a new study by Harvard University that young people are dumping the normal notions of what's news for "soft stories about celebrities".

BOSTON (Reuters) - War and politics are largely ignored by American teenagers, according to a Harvard University study released on Tuesday, which found that 60 percent of them pay little attention to daily news.

Researchers interviewed 1,800 people between January and March and found that 28 percent of Americans between the ages of 12 and 17 said they pay almost no attention to news every day. Another 32 percent said they pay only casual attention to one news source a day.

"News is not something that gets a lot of time or attention or interest from teens," said Thomas Patterson, a professor of government and the press at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Among people aged 18 to 30, the poll found 48 percent said they are inattentive to daily news. Only 23 percent of older Americans said they largely ignore news.

In general, soft stories about celebrities interest young people more than hard news stories like congressional votes or developments in Iraq.