What I See with Peter Fiorenza: Reflecting on the media’s relationship with younger generations

Do we in the media get it right in respect to reporting news? Now, I’m not being cynical, this is in no way a rhetorical question and I am not making any broad assumptions. I merely want to have a retrospective look at where we are and perhaps where we might be headed in this space. What’s brought this on? Well, the other day I was chatting with a younger colleague. The lunch time conversation centred on a couple of recent big news stories. And I was astonished that he and a few other younger people at the table didn’t really know what I was talking about. I initially put this down to the fact that there are many and varied media platforms that are the domain of a younger set, whose priorities may differ from traditional forms of news distribution. But then, my younger mate said something that was quite thought-provoking. “Young people don’t follow the news, because they cannot trust it.” What? Here I am, forming the opinion that our millennials are just passive observers and believe everything they read, watch and hear. This comment was, indeed, a game-changer. So, can it be true that our younger generation is actually more switched on than we may give them credit for? I have mentioned in the past that I do admire some of the traits of the students I teach. I like it that they are generally not judgmental and stubborn when it comes to opinions, but this makes me see them in a whole new light. I had believed in the past that they were slaves to this “dog wagging the tail” mentality, especially when it came to media. I would go as far as to suggest that I thought they were the market that present-day media was catering for. I used to think they were mere promulgators of the social media-clickbait fashion of news. Are our news platforms only providing the news that this generation wants to read, watch or hear and promote? Maybe not. Maybe, we (the media) are producing content that is a by-product of someone’s self-interest, where opinion tends to weigh more than facts. There is no doubt, in my mind, that media tend to design what is reported and how it is reported. But for who? Could it be that the younger generation doesn’t really like this trend. And, therefore, the billions of dollars in resources being used, simply, a fat waste of time and energy? Just putting it out there. Peter Fiorenza is a city councillor and hosts Sport Shed on Saturday from 9am to noon and Fiorenza on Sunday between 10am and noon on Radio MAMA