Abstract
Tuned Out: Why Americans Under 40 Don't Follow the News, by David T.Z. Mindich (Oxford University Press, 2005) 172 pages, $20Many journalism professors will nod in instant recognition as they read David T.Z. Mindich's anecdotes about students with little or no interest in news or note the passing references to students who use journalist to describe talk show hosts such as David Letterman. The lack of interest that college-age people, including journalism students, have for news has received much attention within the industry, and tabloid publications targeting this group, such as the Red Eye and Red Streak in Chicago, have been among the questionable solutions.Mindich's contribution synthesizes surveys and other discussions about young people's disengagement from the news. He does this through highlighting national survey data such as reports by the Pew Research Center for People & the Press, news industry and census data, drawing on studies such as political scientist Robert D. Putnam's work on declining social capital and reporting on interviews he conducted across the country with individuals and groups of people under 40, including some as young as 10, to tease out reasons behind declining news consumption.Mindich does not ignore that the turn from political news is evident among older people as well, but his immediate concern is with what he describes as a generational shift. In doing so, he attempts to make more explicit the link between the withdrawal from news, particularly political news, and the erosion of democracy the country faces.While the connection between an informed citizenry and democracy is one of the assumptions guiding journalism, as Mindich notes, the decline in newspaper circulation and news viewership is often framed as a problem of losing consumers rather than citizens. To build the case for what is at stake if younger people continue the trend away from news, Mindich makes heavy use of Benedict Anderson's concept of imagined communities, which is the only recourse for people in large communities where face-to-face is impossible. News helps the citizenry imagine the differences and commonalities of their community. Mind ich writes:When people tune in together they can-as they did in the 1960s-react together to marines burning a Vietnamese village. They can recoil in horror, together, at the fire hoses and police dogs in Birmingham. There were counterarguments to what journalism presented to the country (the Marines were provoked, the South has a right to segregation) and independent journalism, at its best, tried not to take sides. No, in these kinds of stories, journalists don't take sides, they give sides. In the Miltonian marketplace of ideas, journalism provides readers and viewers with different perspectives. In the 1960s, many of these readers and viewers acted like citizens and leaders and the nation decided to end Vietnam and segregation (p. 209).Mindich's concern is that young people's withdrawal from news, media organizations' decreased emphasis on political news, along with the ability of Internet users to customize news to their tastes (the so-called Daily Me effect) will result in a society in which people are more tuned to private rather than public interests. Yet, although his passion for the topic is evident, the book doesn't break new ground. …
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
