News definitions and motivations: Young people and adults in Portugal and in Estonia

Abstract

How do young people and adults define news? What motivates them to consume news? These questions guide this research, based on interviews with Portuguese and Estonian young people and adults. The motivations for news consumption can be related to normative pressures to fulfil particular social roles and personal needs related to one’s life-world. The diversity of the definitions of news seems to be broader in Portugal, whereas in Estonia, news definitions are based on professional concepts of news and are regarded as synonymous with educational content. The results indicate stronger age differences in news definitions in Portugal than in Estonia. However, considering the massive changes in Europe over the past three decades, including varied integration processes and the advent of the Internet, we contend that digital media are continually producing more similarities in news consumption by audiences in different countries. This influence is relevant to understanding the media options in other European countries.