There’s a moment every media veteran has when they look around the room, realize every kid is staring at a phone, and think: Ah. We’re screwed.
The AP story about teens distrusting the news didn’t shock me. What did catch me off guard was how early the rot set in. These kids didn’t “abandon” the news — they never picked it up in the first place. You can’t abandon a habit you never had.
I grew up with a kitchen table covered in newspapers. Sports scores. Election nights. Weather maps with arrows that looked like they were drawn by a tired intern. Today? Kids scroll past world-changing events on TikTok because the algorithm thinks a capybara drinking from a garden hose is more “engaging.” And honestly, half the time they’re right.
The Generation That Met the Media Backwards
Most teens meet “news” through memes. Parodies. Out-of-context clips dunking on cable hosts. Their first impression of journalism is Ron Burgundy or J. Jonah Jameson screaming at Peter Parker. If I met the media through Anchorman, I’d assume journalists were unhinged theater kids with better hair.
The AP cites a long list of teen opinions: biased, boring, fake, depressing. That sounds harsh, but it’s not malicious. It’s unfamiliarity.
Teens aren’t rejecting journalism — they’re rejecting an artifact that doesn’t speak their language.
When the most visible political figure of their childhood yelled “FAKE NEWS” into every microphone in the country, it stuck. When their schools failed to teach how news works, that stuck too. When newsrooms shrank to a fraction of their former selves, leaving fewer boots on the ground, that stuck hardest of all.
They aren’t wrong to think the product feels thin. They just don’t know why.
Legacy Media Still Thinks Viewers Will Come Back Out of Respect
They won’t.
If anything, teens are confused why news organizations keep behaving like it’s 1997 and they’re still waiting for people to “come to their platform.” That’s the part of the AP story that made me mutter at my screen.
A Maryland journalism student said the quiet part out loud:
“There’s very little movement in the direction of going to where people are.”
Translation:
If your newsroom is still arguing about whether TikTok is “professional,” you deserve your audience numbers.
Teens grew up in a world where information comes to them — customized, curated, relentless. Expecting them to click a homepage like it’s a pilgrimage? That’s adorable. And suicidal.
The Kids Aren’t Cynical — They’re Unschooled
The students who took actual news literacy classes started trusting the news more, not less. That tells you everything.
One kid in Utah heard that the Louvre had been robbed. Instead of swallowing it whole, he did something shockingly rare for his age group — he checked a real source. Within a minute he saw the story was true, which is the entire point of teaching kids how to verify anything before passing it along.
That tiny example reveals the bigger problem: teens aren’t being taught where news even comes from. They think “I saw it on YouTube” means something. It doesn’t. YouTube is a pipe — not the water.
And once someone shows them the difference, the whole world snaps into focus.
Here’s the Hard Part (For Media Folks, Anyway)
Teens aren’t coming back to legacy media out of nostalgia. They have no nostalgia.
They don’t remember Cronkite.
They don’t remember All the President’s Men.
They don’t remember when newsrooms were full, loud, messy places that smelled like burnt coffee and ambition.
We do.
That’s why it hurts.
But the AP’s interviews offer a small crack of sunlight: young journalists still want in — and not for the money — because they want to fix it. They want journalism that matters again. Journalism that moves, that shows up where people already live, online or otherwise.
The generation isn’t lost.
The industry is.
And they’re waiting for us to catch up.
Takeaway
If legacy media wants teenagers back, it has to stop reminiscing and start reinventing. Put the news where they are. Teach them how journalism works. Make the product worth trusting again. Trust isn’t handed out — it’s earned, and teens have a sharper radar than anyone gives them credit for.
What would make you trust the news more? I’m curious, because the next decade depends on that answer.