The use of news media has steadily declined in recent years, particularly among young people. This article offers a critical review of recent research and debate which has sought to explain the changing role of news journalism in political socialization, contrasting social‐psychological perspectives with those of cultural studies and critical theory. It evaluates calls for popular alternatives to conventional forms of news, and for an expanded or postmodern conception of citizenship and the public sphere. The article concludes that while there is a need to rethink fundamental assumptions in this way, more “traditional” concerns with access, representation and political education are of continuing relevance.
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David Buckingham (1997) studied this question.
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