Young Australians have returned to mainstream news but will it last?
By Jessica Lord
Normal text size
It was an unrelenting 12 months of news.
As the country lurched from the Black Summer to the COVID-19 pandemic, from an economic recession to the Black Lives Matter movement and a remarkable United States election, it is not surprising that news outlets achieved record readership in 2020, reaching 96 per cent of Australians.
And it is Australia's young people - often accused of being apolitical or neglectful of mainstream media - for whom this shift could have the most significant long-term impact.
Newspapers increased their readership among young people in 2020.