Pointlife
Student news sources changing over time as media forms evolve
The Pointer
bhaig870@uwsp.edu
In this day and age, students looking for news are met with a variety of different choices and media channels. Every outlet of the cyber age, from television, cable, Internet, radio, magazines and newspapers, boasts some form of news service. With the large girth of saturation of news into media outlets, students vary in how they get their daily feed of information and facts.
“I find that simple newspapers online like usatoday.com are the easiest way to get information about what’s going on,” said University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point senior Adam Becker.
Students may need to access news for a variety of reasons, whether it be classroom-related, for personal use or other. However, it’s clear that the old-time paper newspaper of the past are losing ground to the electronic newspaper, which to the environmentally friendly, isn’t such a bad thing as it conserves trees. Andy Schantz, a junior at UW-SP, has an alternate opinion regarding print newspapers.
“Reading an actual paper newspaper is fine, but if you have to bring in an article for class, or if you’re just looking at the news briefly, it’s just best to go to an online news source,” said Schantz.
However, a new trend has emerged which has already received attention from the media. Younger adults say that they receive most of their news from Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Show, or The Colbert Report. Many students and young adults have said that they feel real news is boring and full of bad news while the “funny news shows” provide a relief from the bad news and make fun of what is going on.
“I know that Comedy Central’s news shows aren’t exactly full of true facts, but I’d rather watch them than real news, it’s just too depressing,” said UW-SP sophomore Ben Brown.
Students who only turn to the news for sports seem to have a general consensus that ESPN is the major outlet. ESPN, a Disney affiliate, has its hands in almost every media channel including cable, print and Internet.
With the continual change in media forms, access to information with change just as fluidly.
