How Gen Z consumes news

A diverse panel of journalists spanning Gen Z, millennial and Generation Jones (young Baby Boomers) reflect on news consumption patterns amongst younger audiences.

Research shows that news consumption for Gen Z is increasing dramatically – but only on one platform: TikTok. Aside from a small increase in news consumption on Instagram it is dramatically decreasing on all other platforms, says Sara Fischer, media reporter at Axios.

What does this mean for the future of news given that TikTok is not only a relatively new platform but has been known to circulate a significant amount of misinformation?

Sara asked the panel of journalist: “Is there a risk in Gen Z now pivoting to have TikTok be the platform where they’re getting a lot of their news, when TikTok is a platform that is still relatively young and new and might not have its grip on content moderation and misinformation?”.

“We launched TikTok the week that Russia invaded Ukraine, and 200 million people engaged with that content, and they engaged with it directly with people on the ground,” said Subrata De, global head of news, programming and development for Vice.

“I felt that that was affirmative. I knew that most of the people, based on what data we could see, were under the age of 25 and really cared. Yes, there are concerns and responsibility around moderation, but I see it as a great democratisation of information, and really empowering storytellers,” added Subrata.

“I think TikTok has been an interesting new space for journalism,” said the Vice journalist.

Relatedly, journalist Ann Curry says the good news is that Gen Z seems to be better informed and more motivated to keep up with current affairs than previous generations of young people. Besides which, all of these platforms provide a forum style way to get news, allowing Gen Z to not only see the headlines but how their peers react to those headlines.

Subrata De, global head of news, programming & development, Vice, Judith Nwandu, political reporter, The Shade Room, and Ann Curry, journalist were in conversation with Sara Fischer, Media Reporter, Axios on the FourthEstate stage at Web Summit 2022.

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Main image of (from left) Subrata De, global head of news, programming & development, Vice; Judith Nwandu, political reporter, The Shade Room; Ann Curry, journalist; and Sara Fischer, media reporter, Axios. Eóin Noonan/Web Summit