Growing up, I was always exposed to different news outlets. From my dad listening to NPR on the car ride home from school to my stepdad watching FOX News on a Saturday morning, I’d always been interested in current events because of constant exposure from various sources. However, I grew up with friends whose families only went to one or two different sources, or none at all.
“Most people most of the time are not reading much news at all, and that’s always been true,” said David Ryfe, director of and professor at the School of Journalism and Media. “What’s happened in the Internet age is that fewer people are stumbling across the news, (official) news or public affairs news, and there’s a real separation between people who have information about public affairs and people who don’t.”
There has always been an issue with public apathy, and recently, it has just gotten worse. People simply don’t consume professional news as much anymore. But among those who do, many tend to stick to a narrow range of outlets that corroborate what they already believe. Humans are wired to consume information that validates preexisting beliefs, and with algorithms pushing that information constantly, it has formed echo chambers that only we can break ourselves out of.
“I feel like I’m with the majority of Gen Z where I’m not consuming enough proper news sources,” said Ellen Chuo, speech, language and hearing sciences sophomore. “I get a lot of my information from social media, and then I usually use the New York Times. … I feel like it’s bad that I get most of the beginning of my info from social media.”
Both good and bad things have surfaced from the internet. While it creates a barrier to people stumbling across hard news, it also consists of tools people can use to find various sources of professionally created journalism. Over the summer, I discovered news aggregation outlets through an internship. Some websites are designed to offer a public affairs topic with links to coverage from between 15 and 60 professional journalism institutions on that topic. Companies like Ground News, Pano News and AllSides are designed to provide the facts and expose readers to different viewpoints on those facts.
“These kinds of sites can certainly help,” Ryfe said. “But it’s still going to require people to do the work of finding these sites, coming to them intentionally and reading what they’re learning.”
In the age of the internet, where misinformation spreads faster than truth, it’s more important than ever to be consuming hard news, and lots of it. News aggregators aren’t going to fix apathy, but they can be a practical step for those who already want to be informed. If you’re already reading the news, use these tools to balance your media consumption palette. Challenge yourself to understand how others see the same story, as opposed to just scrolling until you find something confirming what you already believe. If you explore more perspectives, you’ll get closer to the truth.
Cintron is a journalism sophomore from Houston, Texas.
