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Will TV news survive young people's media habits?

Newsroom

Television is the trusted source of news for many older generations. But with younger people more likely to source their news online, author Ben Tobias, in his research paper, 'Forever old? Why TV news is losing younger viewers, and what can be done about it', considers ways in which TV news programmes can be relevant to this audience.

Through examining four television programmes - three designed from the start to be different, and one which is adapting to become different - Tobias, a BBC World News TV journalist, makes several key findings:

  • the importance of a consistent, motivated team will be crucial to a programme's success
  • over-reliance of 'on the day' stories could be limiting creativity
  • a truly innovative programme will likely be entirely new
  • a programme that appeals to younger people should be ready for a video-on-demand interface
  • a successful evening news programme should offer something new to an audience which already knows the headlines.

News programmes which take these five recommendations into account 'can continue to be valuable to society for many years to come,' Tobias concludes.