So I’ve had a few days to digest bento, and no, I’m not talking about the teriyaki lunch from the Japanese restaurant around the corner.
Germany’s leading weekly magazine Der Spiegel recently launched its boutique online news portal, aimed at reaching the holy grail of readership – Generation Y.
However, one might ask the question: Does Generation Y even want to be reached in a certain way? This is something that had me thinking.
In a recent article on DWDL, this topic was tackled in a brilliant and humorous way, and by someone who ought to know what he is talking about: 18-year-old Miguel Robitzky, who is in the actual target group and puts it as well as one can put it: “This isn’t news for young people, it’s news for dumb people.”
To summarize what Robitzky says: Basically, when you open up bento, you’ll see little to no actual news. Instead you get snackable topics in the form of listicles, GIFs or quizzes. A random sample of articles: Is Elyas M’Barek hot, How can you keep your headphones from tangling, #sweatherweather, you can pull out your jumper again (cue up Instagrams of attractive people and animals in sweaters).
I’m starting to worry whether we need to rethink how media communicates with young people.
But the serious issue for Robitzky is the attention, or lack thereof, paid to actual events happening around the world.
“Really important (news) topics or mostly only touched on not at all discussed. For example, the German Reunification was celebrated with a recipe for how to bake your own Mauerkuchen,” Robitzky wrote. “And when you want to read about the refugees who get articles like “How fighting between refugees can be prevented” and “These photos prove that Elyas M’Barek ist the hottest guy on the planet.”
Is Generation Y not able to understand Russia’s military involvement in Syria unless it comes attached to GIFs or a relevant tweet from Justin Bieber?
Every brand and media company wants to reach the coveted 18-34 age group. The problem is, especially when it comes to the news, media treats millennials as children rather than educated consumers. Otherwise how do you explain the News 101 feel to bento?
There’s nothing wrong with copying the Buzzfeed model, because Buzzfeed has cracked the internet. But in focusing on sharable content and targeting hipsters, we need to remember to create content that’s actually worth sharing. And to surround the GIFticles (we’re sometimes guilty of this too) with journalism that occasionally focuses on sobering things happening around the world.
No one’s saying that media can’t be controversial or provocative. Not everything needs to have the serious, somber tone reserved for the German broadsheets. I’m not going to bento to read hard-hitting, investigative news or get a detailed explanation of the Syrian conflict.
At the same time, I don’t want to feel like I’m at the kids table during family holidays, excluded from participating in the grownup conversations.