People use YouTube to be entertained by drugged-out spiders, George Washington and Canadian safety ads featuring horrific, though preventable, accidents.
Search "news" on YouTube and you will pull up Al Jazeera English followed by news bloopers and the usual hodgepodge of, well, everything video. YouTube's user-generated flea market is not news-centered. People go there for entertainment.
Is YouTube killing TV news? No. Why would it? People might switch from late-night Cinemax softcore to watch video-sharing sleeper hold fetishists, and might switch off entertainment TV for YouTube's comedy channel. But newshounds are not going to turn off 60 Minutes in favor of non-existent YouTube news.
So why is TV news in a slump? Well, because news consumption in general is down. According to a PBS FRONTLINE study of overall audience trends, there were 10 percent fewer news consumers in 2007 than in 1994. All the traditional news mediums are loosing out, except for the Internet.
But is TV news for old people? Smart PEW researchers say no. Demographic statistics from their 2006 report on news consumption held that 49 percent of 18-29 year-olds watch TV news, while those 65 and older watch only twenty percent more. TV news can't be too unsavory to the next generation if half that generation consumes it.
All the same, TV newsies would prefer a growing audience to one shrinking from apathy and the Internet's seductive call. So whaddya say? Turn off YouTube and turn on the BoobTube!
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