NEEDS GRATIFICATION AND YOUTH: NEWS CONSUMPTION PATTERNS OF MEDIA STUDIES’ STUDENTS

Abstract

This research study has examined the relationship between the demographic predictors (i.e. gender, age and institution) and the news consumption habits of Media Studies’ undergraduate students from the four highly ranked universities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi having Mass Communication/Media Studies Department. The study has analyzed the news consumption habits of students with respect to their needs’ fulfillment through the lens of Uses and Gratification Theory postulates. The researcher has conducted a survey based on purposive sampling from October 7th, 2018 to December 28th, 2018. A total of 277 respondents were surveyed through simple random sampling technique. After conducting descriptive statistics, crosstabulations and categorical analysis of variables, our results have shown that there is a significant relationship of gender with the several news consumption patterns (including platforms, outlets, types, formats and sources of news) while age has been found as least affecting predictor. The results have shown that students of Media Studies have a strong inclination towards social media news feed specifically Instagram and Facebook and online news sources which is a filtered and highly selective version of news stories. The study contributes to the existing literature by classifying the demographic predictors which can affect the news consumption habits among students and provide support for better insight of modern-day news media audiences.