Ben Adler

[Commentary] Most of the discussion of youth news consumption and news literacy focuses on articles and written content. Increasingly, however, young people are consuming their news via online video.

More news consumption of any type might be viewed as a good thing, but it’s only as good as the videos younger folks are watching.

When comparing legacy media outlets, studies have often found that cable news viewers glean less than newspaper readers.

“They don’t call TV ‘the idiot box’ for nothing,” says Duy Linh Tu, director of the digital media program at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. “But video online is not just TV replicated online.” Many of the most popular original online news videos feature on-the-ground reporting.