“It Hardly Seemed Like News at All”: Millennial Perceptions of Political Media Through Journals

• In Event: (Mis)Information, (Mis)Perception, and (Dis)Identification

Abstract

As the millennial generation aged into the political system and the majority became eligible to vote in 2008 and 2012, journalists of traditional and new media wasted no time in predicting, framing, and reacting to the groups new political and civic engagement practices. In doing so, previous research has identified that the millennials gained a reputation of disengagement, despite evidence suggesting that they are the highest voting group in American history. This study explores millennial reactions to television and digital news coverage of the 2012 US national election to understand how millennials reacted to both coverage of political events and media framing of their own generation. Through a qualitative textual and thematic analysis of over 1,000 journal entries, this study finds that millennials recognized and critiqued bias, reflected on the merits of political humor, and debated the value of framing other millennials as a part of journalistic practices.

Author

• Alison N. Novak, Temple University