12/02/2025
From the Nebraska Press Association / OnePress:
A new survey shows most teens describe today’s news media with negative words — “biased,” “fake,” “boring,” “confusing.”
👉 Article link: https://apnews.com/article/news-media-journalism-young-people-attitudes-f94bec50fc266d42d6ae369e7b9fb10e
…
But here’s the hopeful part: another recent study shows younger generations actually trust local media more than national outlets… they just don’t know where or how to access them. That’s a solvable problem — but only if local media recognizes that the old identity of “we are a newspaper” no longer fits the world we’re in.
…
Local news isn’t print.
It isn’t just a website.
It isn’t a page.
It is all of these — a full media entity.
At some point, there will be a tipping point.
…
That means now — right now — we have to:
• Show up in the spaces where younger audiences already are.
• Clearly differentiate what local news media does versus the endless stream of “everything else.”
• Reinforce that real journalism still exists, still matters, and still serves the civic good.
• Build new habits before the outrage economy burns people out.
From OnePress Chief Growth Officer Jerry Raehal: Not surprised… but still discouraged.
A new survey shows most teens describe today’s news media with negative words — “biased,” “fake,” “boring,” “confusing.” Another data point confirming what many of us in and around media already feel in our gut: a generation is growing up without the habit and the trust that once anchored news consumption.
👉 Article link: https://apnews.com/article/news-media-journalism-young-people-attitudes-f94bec50fc266d42d6ae369e7b9fb10e
Part of this is cultural. Young people today haven’t been raised on a daily ritual of reading or watching news. When nearly everything online feels like “media,” and when truth is framed as “my truth,” it becomes harder to distinguish journalism rooted in verification from content rooted in vibes, virality, or algorithms.
And social platforms — built to reward emotion, outrage, and engagement — haven’t helped. They’ve blurred the lines so much that many young adults don’t even know where local news lives anymore.
But here’s the hopeful part: another recent study shows younger generations actually trust local media more than national outlets… they just don’t know where or how to access them. That’s a solvable problem — but only if local media recognizes that the old identity of “we are a newspaper” no longer fits the world we’re in.
Local news isn’t print.
It isn’t just a website.
It isn’t a page.
It is all of these — a full media entity.
At some point, there will be a tipping point. People will tire of outrage. They’ll grow exhausted from being force-fed content. They’ll want authenticity again. They’ll want real community connection. They’ll want a place where facts aren’t optional.
When that moment arrives — and it will — local news needs to already be there.
Not scrambling to reinvent itself, but firmly positioned as the trusted, grounded, human-centered alternative to algorithmic chaos.
That means now — right now — we have to:
• Show up in the spaces where younger audiences already are.
• Clearly differentiate what local news media does versus the endless stream of “everything else.”
• Reinforce that real journalism still exists, still matters, and still serves the civic good.
• Build new habits before the outrage economy burns people out.
I’m hopeful. But hope requires action.
If we do this right, local news can be the anchor people come back to when the noise becomes too loud — and we’ll be ready to help move civic discourse forward when they do.
