Daily News Consumption of a Student

Joey Bandru
Sep 3, 2018 · 2 min read

News consumption happens more indirectly than I had previously thought. Despite being a journalism major, I know I don’t spend nearly enough time reading news actively. Needless to say, it surprised me at what types of news I regularly saw over these last few days that I was previously never cognizant of.

The most common type of news I saw were videos, which were either shared on Facebook or were in the discovery section of Snapchat. The videos only lasted between 30 and 60 seconds and would have large text covering a good portion of the video that would be playing, with details left to a minimum. A link to the full story would accompany the video. In a time where people want to consume news quickly, I found these videos to be extremely helpful for an average reader who is interested in staying up to date on what is generally happening in the world. I never actively searched for news on either platform.

When I did read articles, I would read them on the CNN app on my phone or through a hyperlink shared in a tweet. I quickly realized that the paragraphs in the articles were typically very small. Generally, they would only be as large as my phone screen. This made it extremely easy to read them. Since the articles contained shorter paragraphs, there was more of them to read. Additionally, Twitter and CNN were helpful as a banner would be at the top of my screen when I opened the app with breaking news.

When discussing news in person, I would always open Google to find any articles to make sure I had heard all of the details and to see if there had been any updates on the story. I always clicked on one of the first three stories that would pop up, which was usually a credible source such as NBC or The New York Times. These were the instances when I recalled the articles I would see on Twitter. I never closely paid attention to the credibility of the sources unless I was actively searching for a specific story.

I noticed that I would never read news outside of my usual zone of interest. I don’t prefer to read business or sports related news because I either have a hard time understanding what is going on or I don’t find the material to be interesting, so while I noticed a few headlines, I never bothered reading the full story. I typically would read about entertainment news and politics in their entirety. The stories I read had very simple language and were extremely detailed. Any terminology that could be confusing was explained thoroughly, making potentially difficult topics easy to comprehend.

I know that reading news is the best way to write news. I have learned that I should make more time to actively read news. I get a decent amount of news to me everyday, but in order to be a more knowledgeable writer, I need to be a better reader.

Joey Bandru

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Junior at SUNY Oswego double majoring in Journalism and Creative Writing