How to present hard news to Gen Z

Gen Z remains the least news-curious generation, showing a high rate of news avoidance. Reuters’ Digital News Report 2024 states that 39% avoided news occasionally.

To engage Gen Z, using the rules of traditional media on social media is an experiment set to fail. Social media has its own rhetoric and rules that need to be taken into account before publishing any content.

The younger generation certainly spends more time consuming peripheral news content, like infotainment, lifestyle and cultural news. They aren’t opposed to hard news. Gen Z demands “what is useful to know, what is interesting to know, and what is fun to know.” They just want news in a convenient way.

The German Press Agency’s (dpa) #UseTheNews initiative is working to engage the younger generation by providing news to Gen Z the way they want, how they want and where they want.

This non-profit initiative was launched in a bid to tackle news avoidance in German youth and to help them develop media literacy. As all public and private German media are part of dpa, many of them have also partnered with #UseTheNews initiative to solve the problem of news avoidance.

Along with the media outlets, #UseTheNews works with the Leibniz-Institut für Medienforschung. Together they have come up with findings that help them answer what the German youth want in their news and how best can media publishers deliver it to them. 

The Fix spoke to Rieke Smit, the Editor on Duty for their news segment Social News Daily. SND is a segment where the team tries to incorporate their research findings into practice. “We had findings that we’re trying now to implement into our work. We wanted to test it out and have a platform where we can actually try out new formats.” 

So far their experimentation has been promising. One video on European elections got 21.9K views, another on Germany’s regional news updates received 16.6K views and one on Palestine got 10.3K views. Their audience comprises viewers between ages 14 and 24 on TikTok.

Here are their main learnings backed by research and examples from major European outlets: 

1. Highlight why they should be interested 

The Reuters Institute’s 2024 report found that publishers often fail to meet user needs for topics apart from politics and sports. CIPR reports that Gen Z“need a wider breadth of content to reflect the spheres they navigate on different platforms.” This includes content on many topics but also in many styles, like long-form, quick bytes and multimedia content. 

Smit says, “They are interested in news. We really need to cover topics in a way that is interesting for young people.” Smit and her team approach this by asking themselves how they can make any topic relevant and interesting to them. Once they have found that hook, they develop their script. In many of their videos, their hook is a question raised or the topic is explained by something the audience already likes, such as football. 

Spanish elDario.es’s science journalist Antonio Martinez Ron too uses pop culture moments to explain complex scientific and mathematical concepts. In a recent TikTok video he explained the Riemann hypothesis by highlighting its presence on the popular TV show La Revuelta.

2. Content creators over anchors

Traditional news brands have often been unable to connect with the younger demographic. Gen Z is more likely to connect with a content creator than an organisation. Having this research insight, #UseTheNews created their segment  ‘Melissa.was.geht.’ 

“We wanted to use one person to tell people the news instead of having people see a whole editorial office working on videos. Despite having the support of a media team, from the outside she looks more like a news content creator.” This helps Gen Z connect more with the content presented. With content creators come relatability and authenticity, something Gen Z values in their content.

Vitus “V” Spehar, the face behind ‘Under The Desk News’ has become a popular news source for the younger generation. With over 3.2M followers on TikTok, Spehar has managed to share daily news with the younger generation, literally from under the desk. Spehar’s audience appreciates the frank tone of news delivery and Spehar’s openness about being gay and struggling with dyslexia. 

3. Simplify the content and language 

Gen Z wants simplicity, not dumbed down news. They want their news presented with straight facts. This simplicity is also needed in the way these facts are presented. Smit says that for Gen Z “the most important aspect is to talk at an eye level.” Apart from the language, SND has also done interviews in informal setups to add to that feeling of relatability – like the interview with ARD journalist Ingo Zamperoni while they are sitting on the kitchen counter. 

If Gen Z encounters difficult words and terminology, then they will swipe away.

We try to avoid any complicated language. They must feel like they’re talking to an older brother or an older sister

Rieke Smit, the Editor on Duty for their news segment Social News Daily

Even in their science-explaining TikTok, they use conversational language. 

To take another example, BBC News with 4.2M followers on TikTok have been advocates of using TikTok for news dissemination. Their video with journalists Ana Guerra-Moore and Mitch Mansfield uses simple language and easy-to-follow narration to explain the news to its viewers. 

4. The medium is the message

“We are trying to adapt more to the viewing habits of young people. They watch really fast-paced videos which are short, like 40 seconds maximum,” Smit says. Many of their TikTok videos include fast-paced editing, changing camera angles, and zooming in or out to maintain motion. This presents a normal interview scene between two people to look more dynamic. 

Smit notes that it is important to present something interesting in the video in the first 3 seconds. “That’s when something needs to happen. It’s either you make an interesting statement or you raise a question.” Otherwise, their interest is not going to last.Researchers found that legacy and small media outlets commonly used quick transitions and often displayed GIFs, images, and emojis in their videos. While using music in the background is not important, many news outlets like Spanish El Mundo and Belgian HLN have used songs while giving appropriate citations. Others, like BBC News predominantly use original audio with journalists voicing them.

Source of the cover photo: Etienne Girardet via Unsplash

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