Social Natives & News
News organizations are struggling to become part of the digital information network of younger generations. This is problematic, as journalism has a social task to provide citizens with information that enables them to actively participate in society. In order to take on its social function online, journalism will have to innovate.
Objective
In this project, we focus on building a sustainable connection between social natives, young people who have grown up in a digital media landscape, and future-proof journalism. This requires a step-by-step bottom-up approach in which we first identify how social natives define news and civic engagement, what information they need to foster engagement, and how journalistic information can play a role in this. We also investigate the barriers preventing journalistic organizations from responding to this new generation of news users.
We use these insights to investigate, through an inclusive design-oriented approach involving journalists, researchers, and young people what courses of action are needed for journalistic organizations to innovate at three levels: the journalist as an individual, the journalistic editorial team and the journalistic organization.
Results
Within this project, we will develop:
- A set of criteria regarding how social natives define news and civic engagement and what they believe these should entail.
- Practical handouts and workshops for journalistic organizations
- Solution directions and prototypes to help journalists, newsrooms, and organizations innovate
- Scientific articles
Projectupdates
HU researchers involved in the research
Collaboration with knowledge partners
Co-funding
The project is funded by Regieorgaan SIA, a division of NWO (RAAK.PRO.06.023).
