Berlin (ots) – With a “Year of News” next year, the partners of the #UseTheNews media initiative want to draw attention to the importance of reliable information and, above all, promote the safe use of news among teenagers and young adults . UseTheNews gGmbH, initiated by the dpa and the Senate of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, justified the project at a press conference in Berlin on Thursday with, among other things, recent studies reporting a growing alienation between the news media and parts of the population. At the same time, the rise of misinformation on social media has led to a significant increase in uncertainty and distrust in the news. The year 2024 provides an important historical framework. 75 years after the adoption of the Basic Law in May 1949, the social consensus on the understanding of press freedom and freedom of expression associated with Article 5 is in question.
“Disinformation and fake news, the growing physical attacks on journalists, the economic pressure on independent media outlets: all of this puts freedom of the press and freedom of expression at risk. In the Year of News, we want to make clear how “Reliable research is important, true news is for our coexistence. I’m looking forward to the broad campaign, the daily programs on social media and the Gen Z news”, said the president of the supervisory board of the Funke media group, Julia Becker, in board leadership group name #UseTheNews.
The president of ARD and director of SWR, Prof. Kai Gniffke explained: “In times of artificial intelligence and deepfakes, the answer to the question is: ‘What is reality and what is fake?’ anything but easy. We can only overcome this challenge if we defend quality journalism together: editors, quality media outlets managed publicly and privately. The “Year of News” represents just that – a common, intermediary commitment to democratic discourse. and social cohesion.”
“The results of current studies on disinformation, deficits in news literacy and increasing distrust in the media are alarming. We risk losing the common factual basis for democratic discourse and therefore a foundation of our democracy liberal. Our #UseTheNews initiative is already making a difference “For three years we have made an important contribution at national level to improving young people’s news literacy. The fact that public broadcasting and private media are now embarking on a year of action alongside a ‘Year of News’ is the right sign at the right time,” said Dr. Carsten Brosda, Senator for Culture and Media of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.
The “Year of News”, like the #UseTheNews initiative, is supported by a broad alliance of public and private partners. In addition to ARD, ZDF and RTL/ntv, there are also several publishers, such as Der SPIEGEL or the Funke Group, as well as the main publishers’ associations and the Organization of Media Agencies (OMG), as well as various state media authorities , the Federal Agency for Political Education, the Leibniz Institute for Media Research as well as the Madsack Foundation or the ZEIT Foundation.
The chairman of the dpa board of directors, Peter Kropsch, emphasized that, given the importance of the topic, the initiators of the “Year of News” sought the broadest possible alliance, including beyond the circle of #UseTheNews. “We look forward to receiving more support and are open to additional partners.”
The Year of the News program is based on four components:
- A communications campaign aims to appeal to the general population under the motto “News that gets things right instead of creating a climate”.
- A so-called social newsroom will prepare a news topic every day so that teenagers and young people can make the connection with their own real life. The video and audio formats produced by a team of young journalists will be published mainly through social media channels, with close involvement of school classes. #UseTheNews works with Austrian social media agency Hashtag.
- In regional news camps, students will have the opportunity to experience digital journalism in practice.
- To this end, #UseTheNews is planning cooperation projects between partner schools and local newsrooms.
“Quality media and critical media education are essential guarantees of free opinion formation and information for our democracy,” said Thomas Krüger, president of the Federal Agency for Civic Education/bpb. “News camps bring journalism and youth target groups into productive exchange, promote news literacy, and strengthen political education for the media.”
The “Year of Messages” will be accompanied by a special exhibition at the Communication Museum (Berlin, Frankfurt) from October 2024. Furthermore, a practical document for editorial teams and an accompanying scientific study will be published at the end of 2024 .
Leonie Wunderlich, from the Leibniz Institute for Media Research, presented a new study on the group of young users with “low information orientation” at the press conference. They represent around a third of young people between 14 and 24 years old (young people between 14 and 17 years old: 45%, young adults between 18 and 24 years old: 22%). According to the media scientist’s assessment, this group’s alienation from news is so profound that it can only be achieved with considerable effort for particularly low-threshold information media offerings.
The focus of the study was on young people who have little interest in current information and cannot be reached by journalistic offers: those with low information orientation. For this purpose, ten focus groups (n=46) were held in four large cities in Germany in the summer of 2023 with teenagers and young adults aged between 14 and 22 who could be assigned to this group based on sociodemographic data. selected. characteristics. The focus groups took place in the cities of Hamburg, Bottrop (North Rhine-Westphalia), Dresden (Saxony) and Nuremberg (Bavaria).
The results obtained in this study are not suitable for generalization and general application to all adolescents and young adults in Germany. On the contrary, the results provide valuable information about a subgroup of young people who have little interest in current world events and are unlikely to be reached by information offerings from established providers.
To study:
“More understandable, not so political” – insights into the needs and usage practices of young people with little information orientation
https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/handle/document/90067
About #UseTheNews
The #UseTheNews initiative investigates young people’s use and skills in news and develops new information and educational offers. In a journalistic literacy laboratory, new news offerings are designed based on the study results. The News Literacy Lab is supported by journalism experts from the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW Hamburg). Furthermore, educational offers, teaching materials and training for teachers are being developed under the title Open News Education (ONE) in order to reinforce the teaching of news literacy in schools. #UseTheNews was initiated by the German Press Agency dpa and the Hamburg Culture and Media Authority. The project is supported by a board of trustees made up of well-known media and political figures. In May 2022, the initiative was legally valid and transferred to UseTheNews gGmbH. #UseTheNews has partners in Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the USA who are driving the initiative in their own countries.
More information about the “Year of News”:
https://www.usethenews.de/de/jahr-der-nachrichten-2024
Questions and contact:
UseTheNews gGmbH / dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
Jens Petersen
Head of Corporate Communications
Telephone: +49 40 4113 32843
Email: [email protected]