Young Quebecers get information much less often than their parents. Just over a third of them check the news at least once a day. And when they do, it is more through digital sources than with television, which remains the media of choice for older generations.
This is what emerges from a survey carried out on the Web by the Léger firm at the beginning of March. The results of this probe were revealed Wednesday evening on the show In the mediabroadcast on Télé-Québec.
It appears that only 5% of Quebecers admit to never following the news. Mainly because it is “too negative and distressing”, they say. Loss of trust in journalists is only the second reason given among those who have completely dropped out of the news. But “when we only focus on the youngest, it rises to 10%. One young person in 10 is starting to matter a lot,” notes Philippe Léger, columnist at In the media.
Within the vast majority who say they are informed, he emphasizes, not everyone consults the news with the same assiduity. Thus, among those aged 55 and over, 84% say they get information at least once a day. This rate drops to 59% in the 35 to 54 age group. Among Quebecers aged 18 to 34, only 37% obtain information on a daily basis.
“At all times, young people are less informed than older people. But the gap is so big today! I am convinced that if we had done this survey before the arrival of the Internet, we would not have arrived at such a big difference between the age groups,” says Philippe Léger, commenting on the survey carried out by the family business..
TV is getting older, radio less
“Young people not only inform themselves less, they inform themselves differently,” he adds. And this generation gap is evident when measuring television viewing habits.
Radio-Canada and TVA news bulletins may have been losing ground for several years, but they remain the main source of information for older Quebecers. No less than 85% of respondents over 55 said they had watched a television news at least once in the last week; Barely 38% said the same thing in the 18 to 34 age group.
“There is still a significant portion of young people who still get their information from TV. But again, the gap is very significant between the oldest and the youngest. That explains why television is not doing well at the moment,” indicates Philippe Léger in an interview with Dutyalluding to the significant cuts that have affected the country’s major broadcasters in recent months.
The rising generation is abandoning TV, but remains attached to the radio, according to this survey, in which 56% of young people aged 18 to 34 say they have tuned in to live radio to get information at least once in the week preceding the probe. This is just 10 percentage points lower than those aged 35 to 54, and 7 points lower than those aged 55 and over. “I would have expected radio to suffer the same fate as television. But ultimately, it is by far the traditional media that resists the best,” says Mr. Léger with astonishment.
From what source?
Print media websites and apps are the top source of information for young adults, at 32%, tied with YouTube and social media.
Some 37% of 18 to 34 year olds — and 30% of 35 to 54 year olds — say, on the other hand, that they have accessed sources that are not traditional media on social networks (like influencers, for example) during the week preceding the survey.
“How many of them only got their information through social networks? It’s impossible to know with this survey, but we can think that it’s a large proportion. And what do they really consider information? » asks Philippe Léger, concerned.