Survey shows teenagers trust non-traditional media news sources

SEOUL, Oct. 22 (Yonhap) -- More than half of South Korean teenagers rely on online and other non-traditional news sources, a survey revealed Wednesday.

The government-funded Korea Press Foundations announced in its monthly magazine
"Media Insight" the results of the survey conducted among 408 students at middle
and high schools nationwide.
The findings show that when teenagers are faced with major events that
significantly affect their lives, they turn to non-traditional media, including
Internet sources created by citizen journalists rather than professional
journalists at mainstream newspapers, magazines, television and radio.
About 46.1 percent of those surveyed said that they would turn to Internet
portals for immediate news in such situations, while the next most popular source
was television (24.8 percent). According to the survey, 11.5 percent of the teens
would use Internet-based publications, and 6.9 percent free newspapers. In
contrast, only 4.9 percent said they would read print newspapers.
Teenagers spend on average 166.1 minutes on the Internet, 106 minutes on cellular
phones, 105 minutes on television, 80.8 minutes on cable TV channels and 23
minutes per day reading newspapers.
Eighty percent of the students said they were interested in the resumption of the
U.S beef imports, which was one of the most discussed issues online earlier this
year.
About 20 percent of those surveyed said they took to the streets to protest the
government decision to resume U.S. beef imports amid mad cow disease scare.
Asked to pick their most-used sources for information about U.S. beef imports
and protests, 36.5 percent named Internet portals, 35 percent friends and
families, and 24.8 percent online-based communities.
ygkim@yna.co.kr
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