Traditional ways of consuming news are dying out, that is undeniable. Ofcom tells us young people aren’t watching TV news bulletins. We knew this: we’ve known for years that we have to find ways to reach new audiences, and new ways to package information about the world in an accessible way. Mainstream TV news bulletins have never been aimed at children, and now young people are given more choice they naturally choose platforms that speak to them, and are likely to continue to do so into adulthood. We can’t assume that young people will ever replenish adult TV news audiences. But is this really a reason to panic? Or could we instead celebrate the independence of young people, embrace this change and adapt to it?
Not watching TV news doesn’t mean that young people aren’t interested in their world. NewsWise, a project that teaches nine- to 11-year-olds news literacy, has spent the past year visiting primary schools in some of the most deprived and geographically remote locations in the UK. We’ve talked to thousands of children about their views on the news, teaching them how it is made and its role in a democracy, how to identify bias, disinformation, opinion and rumour, and how to share stories from their own communities in a fair and responsible way. We’ve heard whole classes boo Donald Trump, without knowing why. We’ve seen children desperate to ask questions about the Manchester Arena bombing, but not know who they can speak to about it. We’ve seen children furiously debating the Windrush scandal, with a pure sense of right and wrong and a dawning realisation that the media at its best can truly hold power to account. Children want to understand complex news stories. They care passionately about the world, and need to understand why things happen and what they can do about it.
But the way they’re sourcing information has huge implications not only for their wellbeing but also for society, for politics and for democracy. The National Literacy Trust’s 2018 commission on fake news and the teaching of critical literacy skills in schools showed that half of young people are worried about not being able to identify fake news. So instead of despairing of the next generation who don’t copy our own news habits, let’s come together – media, tech companies, government, teachers and families – and support them to develop their own.
Where young people are sourcing news on platforms that aren’t curated, where it can be difficult to identify sources and where disinformation is rife, let’s empower them with the critical skills they need to question what they are seeing, reading and hearing. And let’s not wait until they are 14 or 15: recent research from Ofcom has shown that one in five eight-to-11-year-olds has a social media presence, and 77% of this age group are already on YouTube. For children exposed to media from the moment they are born, they should be developing these skills throughout their education. Children deserve a modern curriculum which truly equips them for this changing media landscape.
Secondly, on platforms where it is easy to exist in filter bubbles, and where debate can be unbalanced, non-factual and aggressive, we need to create spaces at home, in school and online where young people can safely access and discuss news, can learn to listen to and respect different opinions and can ask questions about a world that often doesn’t make sense.
Where news stories are long-running and complex, and can be difficult to understand even for adults, young people will disengage. Let’s present complicated news stories in an accessible way, providing clear background and clarifying which reporting is factual and which is opinion. This doesn’t mean dumbing down content for young audiences; it means giving them access to difficult stories in a way they can understand. Who knows? Adults may appreciate the simplicity too.
And where social media encourages a solitary consumption of the news, let’s try to revive news as a communal activity. Perhaps not sitting around the wireless in a 1950s fashion, but giving teachers, parents, families the knowledge and confidence to discuss news in an open-minded way; to fact-check together; to identify trustworthy sources of news and to encourage discussion at home, in the car, on the bus, in the playground. Young people may not be watching TV news, but they are absorbing news all the time from radio, social media, from newspapers in shops and at home, from overheard conversations and playground gossip.
They have so many questions – let’s give them the time and the opportunity to ask them.
• Angie Pitt is director of NewsWise, a news literacy project from the Guardian Foundation, National Literacy Trust and PSHE Association, funded by Google
