Young people prefer to consume cat videos rather than information media

The latest "Yearbook 2015 Quality of the Media" once again paints a bleak picture of the development of the Swiss media landscape. Mark Eisenegger, president of the "Kurt Imhof Foundation for Media Quality," spoke of a "structural crisis in information journalism" at the presentation of the work in Bern on Monday. Trust in the traditional media continues to decline. The fact that this trend is most noticeable among young people, of all people, worries him, he said. "From a state policy point of view, it is alarming that the young almost no longer consult information media."

Subscription newspapers are out

The numbers speak for themselves: subscription newspapers no longer reach more than half of young adults. In 2015, 56 percent of respondents between the ages of 16 and 29 said they never use a subscription newspaper. In 2009, the figure was still 35 percent. Radio, free newspapers, tabloids and television, which rely on hard news, also lost resonance over the same period. Only online content received more attention - but the increase of plus two percent is small. Instead, the young increasingly informed themselves via social media channels or were lost as information users altogether because they invested their time in entertainment offerings, Eisenegger said. "Many young people are looking for the mundane, shallower stories, soft news." This means, for example, posts or articles about Hollywood stars, about accidents and crimes, or the funniest cat videos.

Promote media competence

For example, the proportion of mobile users is higher at online portals such as 20minuten.ch, Blick.ch, and Watson.ch than at Nzz.ch or Tagesanzeiger.ch. This development is reinforced by the growing importance of Facebook and other social media. Of the 200 articles that were linked to, tweeted or commented on the most on the news sites last year, around 60 percent were soft news articles. That political news is losing importance among young media users worries media scholars. "It is time for media companies and journalists to reflect more critically on this development," Eisenegger said. Young people in particular are dependent on complex issues being classified, they said. The study authors therefore urgently call for more emphasis to be placed on media competence in schools. Young people must learn to distinguish between good and less good media. This is not the case enough today.

Less cat videos

Various representatives of media companies and journalists share these demands in part, as became clear at the panel discussion for the presentation of the new yearbook. "I take the findings seriously," said Daniel Foppa, domestic head of the Tages- Anzeiger. In the future, for example, interaction with the reader must be increased, he said. In his experience, however, political stories also have the potential to reach a broad readership. During the discussion, Nick Lüthi, editor of Medienwoche, suggested strengthening the information channels and reducing the entertaining content. Otherwise, he said, young people won't turn to quality media later. "Then we lose them."

Finances are not right either

The authors of the study are also concerned about the financial situation of the information media. Willingness to pay for online content remains low, they say, and advertising revenues are falling far short of expectations. Among other things, this is leading to more concentration and less diversity in the media landscape. Overall, the quality of the Swiss media has declined, concludes the yearbook - and not for the first time. The media scientists still attest the highest quality to public radio, followed by public television and the Sunday newspapers. The yearbook is produced by the University of Zurich's Public and Society Research Center (Fög) and was published for the sixth time this year. It was initiated by Zurich sociology professor Kurt Imhof, who died this spring at the age of 59 (Werbewoche.ch reported). (SDA)