By Nkele Martin
As fewer young people engage with journalism, panelists at the Reimagining Political Journalism conference believe the industry needs to do better to connect with Gen Z and Millennial consumers of media and voters.
“Fewer and fewer young people are engaging with what we do, fewer of them are engaging with politics,” said Emma McIntosh, a reporter with The Narwhal, the Canadian environment-focused online publication. “They’re political people… they clearly care, they’re clearly very socially aware and engaged with this stuff. They’re just not doing it with us,” she said.
A not-so-optimistic consensus about the state of youth and political journalism continued across the panel. The panelists — younger Canadians themselves — alluded to the idea that the challenges stem partly from traditional newsrooms.
A recurring theme is what many describe as a staffing issue. Too often, large newsrooms follow “circular” narratives, recycling sources and perspectives without taking stock of new ideas emerging from young people and marginalized communities.
“When younger people look at mainstream media they’re like, ‘This is how old people got news,’” said Evy Kwong, associate director at the U.S-based print and online magazine WIRED.
“My biggest gripe is that we get the same panelists, same columnists, and it’s like they have no expiry date,” she said.
McIntosh said that frequently, young people don’t see issues relevant to them in news coverage.
“We’re writing for a world that doesn’t exist,” she said, “They (young people) are like, ‘Why should I care who the new chief of staff is when I can’t afford to buy groceries?’” she said.
Multiple panellists agreed that political jargon and the elitist assumption that readers will inherently understand historical tidbits with no context is an aspect of coverage that leaves young people disconnected and likely to turn to other forms of media.
Harrison Lowman, managing editor of The Hub — a Canadian online publication with a broadly conservative perspective and a mission statement rejecting government support for news organizations — argued that journalists need to do more to effectively cover politicians who are reducing access for journalists. He named federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and Ontario Premier Doug Ford as examples of politicians who limit their media availability and will directly challenge journalists.
“Deal with it. Figure it out, figure workarounds, how to cover them,” he said. “Let’s have a reality check here, and be serious and meet these challenges head-on.”
These and other industry shortcomings brought up by panelists — and new challenges faced in reporting on politics — have created a disconnect between journalism and youth.
If not dealt with, it will have grave consequences.
“We’re seeing a slow erosion (of democracy) and it’ll continue, it’ll accelerate,” said McIntosh. “If we’re not getting young people now in the news ecosystem, there will not be old people who are in the news ecosystem.”
Mark Ramzy, a political reporter in the Toronto Star’s Ottawa Bureau, said young adults he has spoken to have joked about revoking the voting rights of those who disagree with them.
“I do worry about. If we don’t find these solutions, then we are going towards a society that is increasingly more partisan, increasingly hates one another over things just because they are unable to have dialogue,” he said.
Increased skepticism and technological advances have made journalistic work — once a mystery to the public — more transparent, and young people aren’t satisfied with what they see, the panelists noted.
“The jig is up,” said McIntosh. “People are watching us throw softballs at press conferences. They see it, why would they trust us? Young people are like, ‘What are you doing?’”
“It’s this transformation that needs to happen,” said Kwong.
During the Q&A session, panelists took turns offering solutions to problematic state of political journalism as it relates to youth.
Among them were:
• increasing coverage of the on-the-ground community conversation;
• breaking down hard-to-understand ideas about politics and governance in language that youth understand;
• listening to and empowering young journalists;
• doing more to find out and cover what young people are interested in;
• engaging young news consumers directly by using the word “You”
The question-and-answer session — which lasted more than 20 minutes — was cut short due to time constraints, with many audience members still waiting to pose a question.
As other panels have illustrated, the challenge of increasing the relevance of politics to young people — and news coverage of elections, policy debates and governance issues — is a complex issue. But there was a sharper focus on the fact that prospective solutions are likely to emerge from younger journalists.