Young People and the Future of News: Social Media and the Rise of Connective Journalism

by Lynn Schofield Clark, Regina Marchi

Overview

Young People and the Future of News traces the practices that are evolving as young people come to see news increasingly as something shared via social networks and social media rather than produced and circulated solely by professional news organizations. The book introduces the concept of connective journalism, clarifying the role of creating and sharing stories online as a key precursor to collective and connective political action. At the center of the story are high school students from low-income minority and immigrant communities who often feel underserved or misrepresented by mainstream media but express a strong interest in politics and their communities. Drawing on in-depth field work in three major urban areas over the course of ten years, Young People and the Future of News sheds light on how young people share news that they think others should know about, express solidarity, and bring into being new publics and counter-publics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781108120753
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/21/2017
Series:	Communication, Society and Politics
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Lynn Schofield Clark is Professor and Chair of the Department of Media, Film and Journalism Studies and Director of the Estlow International Center for Journalism and New Media at the University of Denver. She is author of The Parent App: Understanding Families in a Digital Age (2013) and From Angels to Aliens: Teenagers, the Media and the Supernatural (2005) and is co-author of Media, Home and Family (2004). She has received numerous awards for her writing and her community engaged research, and has held affiliations with the University of Copenhagen and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Her research has been cited in the New York Times, The Guardian, CNN, the BBC, NPR, and in other national and international media venues. She has worked with young people as a teacher, mentor, and researcher for more than twenty years.
Regina Marchi is Associate Professor of Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers University, New Jersey. Before entering academia, she worked as a journalist, community organizer and teacher. Her first book, Day of the Dead in the USA: The Migration and Transformation of a Cultural Phenomenon (2009), won the 2010 national James W. Carey Award for Media Research and an International Latino Book Award in the category of 'Best history/political book'. She has been recognized with numerous research and teaching awards and has worked with youth in various capacities for more than twenty years.

Table of Contents

Introduction: young people and the future of news; 1. Young people, journalism and politics; 2. Connective journalism; 3. Hope and disillusionment with legacy news; 4. Young people producing and consuming news; 5. Connective journalism and the formation of youthful publics and counterpublics; 6. Youth citizen journalism: the connective journalism practices of participation; 7. Moving forward: what we can do; Methodological appendix.

Editorial Reviews

'Clark and Marchi take an unsparing look at how young people today are getting, creating and sharing their news by-passing traditional news organizations. It’s a sobering, insightful probe into four urban communities and a cautionary tale for news organizations whose very existence depends on reaching the next generation of news consumers.' Lulu Garcia-Navarro, Host of 'Weekend Edition Sunday', National Public Radio

'Much here will be eye-opening to those who are too quick to dismiss the political consciousness of the coming generation and the future of journalism. Rather than focusing on youth news consumption as a problem, this book shows what's working about how young people share news and information with each other and what its implications are for fostering even greater degrees of civic and political participation.' Henry Jenkins, Co-author of By Any Media Necessary: The New Youth Activism

'In this beautifully written book, Clark and Marchi insightfully look beneath popular claims of youth apathy to reveal the multidimensionality of young Americans’ engagement with the news and the potential for reconnecting them to powerful media and political processes.' Sonia Livingstone, The London School of Economics and Political Science and author of The Class: Living and Learning in the Digital Age

'The future of democracy depends on how today’s young people learn to use, share, and produce the news. Clark and Marchi offer an impressive theoretical framework and rich and insightful narratives of actual youth to diagnose the current crisis and propose solutions.' Peter Levine, Associate Dean and Lincoln Filene Professor, Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, Tufts University, Massachusetts

'A timely and pertinent volume. If you are curious about how young people can reinvent the future of journalism, read this outstanding and insightful book.'

From the Publisher