News usage patterns of young adults in the era of Interactive Journalism

Abstract

In this study the emerging processes of news consumption among young adults of the post-millennial generation are explored. New forms of journalism, such as video journalism, interactive journalism, multimedia journalism, long form and slow journalism are presented along with their impact on the aforementioned audience. To support the theory on behavioral patterns of online news usage, a focus group among English speaking university students, majoring in journalism was conducted in Greek and Cypriot Universities. Furthermore, the interactive reporting series “NSA files: decoded” was used as a case study, to answer whether experimental forms like interactive reporting is compatible with the needs of the generation under study. In general young adults in this research stated that they prefer traditional form of reporting rather than interactive. It seems that as interactivity is getting more and more present, the less coherent the narration becomes. Even though young adults are known as active learners, they prefer a strong narrative to an interactive template. That sparks a debate about what the future of journalism would be.