Open Access

Is news engagement worthwhile?: Studying young audiences’ engagement with YouTuber-like news content

Marju Himma-Kadakas
Marju Himma-Kadakas
 and 
Raul Ferrer-Conill
Raul Ferrer-Conill
   | Aug 31, 2022
Nordicom Review's Cover Image
About this article
Previous Article
Next Article
Cite
Published Online: Aug 31, 2022
Page range: 152 - 170
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2022-0010
Keywords
© 2022 Marju Himma-Kadakas et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Descriptions of Schrøder's worthwhileness categories

Category Description
Time spent A medium must be worth the time spent, and the news media that are experienced as more important are more worthwhile; others are used temporarily at a convenient time (e.g., mobile moments).
Public connection This helps maintain relations to one's networks and the wider society. Schrøder divides public connection into “democratic worthwhileness” (content that caters to one's identity) and “everyday worthwhileness” (content that links one with their personal networks).
Normative pressures Usage or non-usage of a medium depends on how significant others find the medium.
Participatory potential Participation through (inter)activity, sharing, liking, and creating content can be meaningful for some people.
Price The news medium must be affordable and worth the price.
Technological appeal The technological features and technical quality potential of the device or medium.
Situational fit The suitability of the time and place for using the medium.

YouTubers’ techniques used in the focus group videos

Video Genre, format, and affordances Audio/visual codes Textual and linguistic expressions
DEAL or NO DEAL: Brits and EU divorcing the marriage (explains Brexit from the aspect of possible personal impact to the young viewer)Length: 2′33′ Genre: news + original performanceFormat: sit-downAffordances: time spent, democratic and everyday worthwhileness, technological appeal, news-ness Sound effects, background musicNumerous memes and pictures, and the written text emphasises the news factsEditing: jump-cuts to accelerate the pace of presentation, no post-production effectsHigh technical quality Explaining to the cameraListing of news-related factsNarrative elements: action, resolution, codaUses slang, includes few vulgar expressionsFast speech rate
THE FUTURE IS NOW: robots writing business news(about using robots in journalism; similar to conventional infotainment news interview)Length: 6′44″ Genre: original performance + newsFormat: sketch + collabAffordances: time spent, technological appeal, news-ness Modest sound effects, ambient background musicVideo footage from newscastsSimultaneous unrelated action in the backgroundEditing: similar to journalistic feature news, no post-production effectsRemarkably low technical quality News interviewNarrative elements: abstract, orientation, resolution, codaEveryday word use, similar to formal news textsSpeech rate similar to ordinary conversation
ONLY IN 5 MINUTES: stock market explained in kitchen(rises and falls of investing in stock market explained using cooking metaphors)Length: 4′49″ Genre: original performance + how-toFormat: sit-downAffordances: everyday worthwhileness Modest sound effects, background musicFew gifs, written punch lines, bloopersEditing: few jumpcuts to emphasise important factsNormal technical quality with minor flaws in sound and lighting Explaining to the cameraListed facts presented through actingNarrative elements: abstract, resolution, codaEveryday languageSlow speech rate
BE AWARE: how you can prevent the financial crisis from happening?(explaining principles of financial behaviour in an acted sketch)Length: 2′57″ Genre: news + original performanceFormat: sketch + sit-downAffordances: time spent, democratic and everyday worthwhileness, technological appeal Sound effects to emphasise the facts or jokes, ambient background musicGifs, short video additions, written punch linesEditing: a number of jump cuts to emphasise important factsHigh technical quality Explaining to the camera using short sentences, jokes, punch linesNarrative elements: action, resolution, codaEveryday language Fast speech rate

Overview of focus groups

Group Duration (min.) Number of participants Age Female Male
1 65 6 16–17 4 2
2 70 7 17–18 0 7
3 45 5 15–16 5 0
4 68 7 16–17 5 2
5 75 12 16–18 10 2
eISSN:
2001-5119
Language:
English
Publication timeframe:
2 times per year
Journal Subjects:
Social Sciences, Communication Science, Mass Communication, Public and Political Communication
Journal RSS Feed