While “young people prefer to get their news online” is a headline up there with “dog bites man” in its predictability, that is nevertheless one of the main findings in broadcast regulator Ofcom’s annual news consumption report, published today.
Sometimes it is good to have the obvious stated - focuses the mind and all that.
Among people aged 16-24, 89% went online to follow stories, while 61% turned to TV. In the general adult population, 79% chose TV as their first port of call for news.
Just under six in 10 12-15-year-olds (57%) said they were interested in news. They remained particularly interested in news about music (53%), followed by celebrities (45%), the environment (44%) and serious things happening in the UK (43%).
There is much else in the report to pique the interest, including the finding that in Scotland the overwhelming majority of adults - 91% - are interested in news about their country. This was higher than the average for the UK as a whole.
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