Trump’s attack on Venezuela? The sixteen-year-old son had heard all about it. The fact the President of the United States wants Greenland? Knew about that, too. Protests in Iran? Likewise.
The discussion at our dinner table was about what news reaches young people. It was an open-ended question posed to the eldest. He looked thoughtful. Spelling mistakes, missing punctuation and lack of capitalisation are just a few of his editor-mother’s pet peeves and are always corrected immediately (which is usually met with: “But you knew what I meant, right?”). I could see a thought clearly cross his face, ‘What is she going to accuse me of this time?’.
Observant is organising a yearly conference for about a hundred fellow members of the higher education media. The theme: how do you reach readers? Last week, we compiled a list of possible speakers. While doing that, my eye fell on a newsletter from Villamedia, a magazine in the industry, which featured a short article about a million euro grant for research into how journalism can reach young people. I read that this target audience is absolutely interested in the news, but that it does have to have added value. They often seek out media that is less traditional, as they don’t feel an affinity to the former’s content and format. They get their news from other sources. I’m sure you can guess which ones.
The sixteen-year-old, on TikTok: “Everything I need to know or that I’m interested in is shown to me.”
Me: “But how do you know if it’s reliable?”
Him: “NOS Stories is reliable, they make good videos.”
Me: “And other sources?”
Him: “The BBC. Daily Mail. Also, if I see something on my feed forty times, or so, then I know it’s real. And anyway, I can tell straightaway if something is fake news, made by AI.”
I sincerely hope so.
I asked a little more: “Do you know why Trump wants Greenland? Do you read ever the background articles?” The answer, paraphrased: only if it’s interesting, if it’s important to the world that he and his friends find themselves in. That doesn’t sound that strange to me, we’ve noticed the same at the editorial office. Students are worried about the university restaurant prices, the library opening hours, the new exam regulations, tutor groups – stuff that affects them. The faculty budgets, or the integration of the hospital and the university: not on their radar. Still, we cling to the hope that they see an article on our website and think: ‘That looks interesting, I might read that, even if it’s nothing to do with me.’
Meanwhile, I have taken to giving the sixteen-year-old one news item or background article a week from de Volkskrant’s Saturday edition, “about something I think might interest you”. It was quite hard this week... subjects such as chess, treating depression, giving birth, polar bears – I flicked through it a number of times. Until I read the ombudsman’s editorial, where she wondered whether or not you should put the name of reality tv winners in the headline. Nothing too heavy, just this once. Even if it’s just to gain some insight into what his mother does for a living.
The editor-in-chief gives a look behind the scenes at the editorial office