Students don't read newspapers shock!

Given that this is a post about newspapers I suppose that could have been “students slammed for not reading” or “students blast quality of newspapers”.

Still, news reaches me that Students aren’t reading newspapers. According to Australian research:

90 per cent of students do not like reading the newspaper, preferring to source news from commercial television or online media.

The report is familiar reading which unfortunately falls foul of a little gratuitous referencing of Twitter. But, as is increasingly common, the comments are just as interesting and pretty much round up the relative positions in the debate. They go something along the lines of

• Students are lazy or thick – maybe some are. But why does that make them any different from every other walk of life?
• Newspapers are crap, why would they read them - there is some truth in this.
• Newspapers are slow; behind the news - but thats what makes the content different and the best ones know that and have changed their output
• Newspapers are the only thing that give you what you need not what you want – this view is pompous and self-righteous.
• Students read lots but understand little – ditto.
• Reading a newspaper is a democratic responsibility – If you believe that then spend your time fighting the way most media outlets ignore this vital role.
• Students see the future and have left the sinking ship before newspapers die – maybe they have or maybe they just don’t care. Either way, it’s the media’s job to persuade them that they are wrong and make them care. It’s not my job to make them buy your product.

All points will be hotly debated regardless of my view.  But there are two other aspects of this debate that frustrate me.

The first is a personal tick of mine. When I read…

“The future of printed newspapers is looking grim as there is an evident shift towards digital journalism.”

…I bristle.

For me, digital journalism is not separate from newspaper journalism.  For me, digital journalism is using digital skills to develop stories and content for any platform.  Not a medium in itself. But that’s just me.

The other is the idea that students should read newspapers to get the news. Forgetting the debate about the amount of news in newspapers, that misses the big, elephant in the room sized, point. Journalism students should read newspapers because they are students of journalism.

As one commentator (a journalism student as it happens) said

Journalism students should engage in all media forms including radio, tv, print and online. That way, you’re at an advantage – learning different ways and being able to differentiate various styles of writing.

A comment that echoes an earlier commentator

I think it is poor form for students who ‘study’ the media to disregard entire media formats and opt for banal, entertainment driven commercial television news as an alternative

The last part is a value judgment (which is kind of ironic given their point) but you get the idea.

As a student of journalism, don’t read newspapers just for the news. Since when has news been a newspaper story anyway?   You read a newspaper because it is part of the landscape you will be working in. You are not just a consumer of news anymore.

If you are studying journalism, seek it out in all its forms, good or bad, and learn from it.

Let’s, for one second, imagine newspapers will die. Wouldn’t it be great to have an understanding of how they died so you don’t make the same mistakes?