Western Europeans Under 30 View News Media Less Positively, Rely More on Digital Platforms Than Older Adults

People of all ages in Western Europe value the importance of the news media in society. Yet, younger adults - those under 30 - are less trusting of the news media and less likely to think the news media are doing a good job in their key responsibilities. And while younger adults rarely read the news...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Policy File 2018
Main Authors: Matsa, Katerina Eva, Silver, Laura, Shearer, Elisa, Walker, Mason
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
Children & youth/Families & family life
Media coverage
Pew Research Center
Social conditions & trends
Online Access:Request full text
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Summary:People of all ages in Western Europe value the importance of the news media in society. Yet, younger adults - those under 30 - are less trusting of the news media and less likely to think the news media are doing a good job in their key responsibilities. And while younger adults rarely read the news in print, they often name established newspaper brands as their main source of news. This new analysis builds off Pew Research Center's earlier findings about news media and political identities to understand age dynamics in eight Western European countries - Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Together, these eight European Union (EU) member states account for roughly 69% of the EU population and 75% of the EU economy. Across the eight Western European countries surveyed, broad majorities in each of the three age groups say that news media are important to society. Among those under 30, the share who holds this view ranges from 75% in Italy to 94% in Sweden. Younger Western Europeans, however, are less approving of the news media. In five of eight countries polled, younger adults, defined here as those ages 18 to 29, are less likely to trust the news media than the oldest age group (those 50 and older). And when it comes to how the news media perform on key functions, in six countries adults under 30 give the news media lower ratings across at least three of the five performance areas measured than do those ages 50 and older.