Online News Consumption Habits of University Students in Greece and Turkey

Abstract

The challenges of digitalisation on news organisations, future of newspapers and other traditional media present an ongoing struggle. Although there is a general decline in news consumption in all cohorts, youth in specific seems to be ‘tuning out’ of news globally (Mindich, 2005). The Digital News Report (2016) published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism reported that news accessed via social media sites was increasing in Europe (average 46%) where Greece and Turkey were high adoption countries with 74% and 73% usage rates, respectively. These numbers dropped in the 2018 report to 66% in Turkey and 71% in Greece. This research offers a qualitative analysis of the factors that influence youth’s news consumption behaviour in Greece and in Turkey. The data collection took place in 2017 and 2018 in Athens and in Istanbul with voluntary participation of 40 college students who study in public and private universities. © 2020 Emerald Publishing Limited.